The Bengal government has set a target of purchasing 70 lakh tonnes of paddy directly from farmers in the 2023-24 procurement season in an apparent bid to extend the benefit of minimum support price to maximum number of cultivators ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The target of 70 lakh tonnes of paddy is 18 lakh tonnes more than last year’s goal of 52 lakh tonnes.

“The procurement target has been increased this year as there is a requirement for more rice to keep the state's own cheap grain scheme running. Since the target is increased, the state will be able to bring more farmers under the procurement scheme that ensures minimum support price for the produce,” said a senior government official.

While a farmer gets Rs 2,203 if he sells one quintal of paddy to the government, local traders pay him between Rs 1,600 and Rs 1,800.

A bureaucrat has said since the government cannot give wheat to nearly two crore beneficiaries of the state's cheap grain scheme as the produce is not easily available on the open market, it has to be replaced by rice.

“That is why this year, the requirement for rice has been increased to run the state’s own cheap grain scheme. The ruling establishment has laid stress on increasing the procurement target instead of purchasing rice from the open market only to ensure that more farmers get the benefit of MSP ahead of the Lok Sabha polls,” said the bureaucrat.

Sources have said the ruling establishment has decided to use the procurement tool to woo 70 lakh farmers across Bengal as they hold the key to electoral success in rural areas.

The Trinamul Congress had earlier reaped the benefit of the direct procurement scheme and that is why the same tool has been planned to woo the farmers.

The sources said ahead of the 2021 Assembly polls, the state government had procured 10 lakh tonnes of potatoes directly from farmers when they were forced to go for distress sale because of surplus production.

“This had worked in favour of Trinamul in Hooghly and Burdwan East, the potato-producing districts. The ruling party bagged 95 seats in the two districts even though the BJP had put up a great show in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls,” explained an official.

Senior bureaucrats, however, feel meeting the target of procuring 70 lakh tonnes of paddy would be tough.

A bureaucrat said the first hurdle to the goal was the farmers' lack of interest in selling their produce to the government. Only eight lakh farmers have registered their names so far this time to sell their produce to the government, which is much less compared to the previous years. This happened only because the government could not buy paddy from half of the farmers who registered their names last year, said the official.

“Last year, the government could buy paddy only from 15.51 lakh of 31.48 lakh farmers who had registered their names to sell their produce to the government. If the government can’t encourage the farmers to register their names, the target cannot be achieved,” said the bureaucrat.

The government has, however, allotted a sum of Rs 1.47 crore to launch a publicity drive across the state to encourage the farmers to sell their produce to the state.

“The state never spent such a huge amount to encourage the farmers to sell their produce to the government. The state has fixed a target to register at least 25 lakh farmers before the procurement for kharif (monsoon) season starts on November 1. It remains to be seen whether the publicity drive helps the state reach out to the farmers,” said a source.