FMTC Procures Paddy worth Rs 300 Million

January 12: The Food Management and Trading Company (FMTC) Limited has purchased paddy worth more than 307.7 million rupees from farmers at the minimum support price set by the government.

The state-owned company purchased the paddy from different places of the country.

As of January 9, the company has purchased 10,138 metric tons of paddy worth Rs 307 million from eight purchase centers for the current fiscal year. This year, the government fixed the minimum support price of coarse paddy at Rs 2,967 per quintal and the minimum support price of medium paddy at Rs 3,128 per quintal.

The company aims to purchase paddy from 10 places across the country at the support price set by the government. But so far it is only buying paddy at eight places including Birtamod, Biratnagar, Lahan, Birgunj, Nepalgunj, Rajapur, Dhangadhi and Mahendranagar. The procurement is yet to begin in Janakpur and Bhairahawa.

Sarmila Subedi Neupane, information officer of FMTC, informed that most of the paddy has been purchased from Dhangadhi and Rajapur so far. According to her, so far 3,013 metric tons of coarse and medium paddy have been purchased from Dhangadhi and 2,680 metric tons from Rajapur. This year, the company has set a target of purchasing 30,000 metric tons of paddy. But so far only 10,000 metric tons have been purchased.

Even last year, the company did not meet the target of paddy purchase.