GUWAHATI, Dec 3 � For the first time, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) would be procuring paddy from 13 paddy purchase centres (PPCs) in the State.
The FCI headquarters vide letter proc-II/5 (6)/2011-12/Pt dated 28-11-2011 has advised the regional office, Assam region FCI, to open the paddy purchase centres in FCI-owned depots for procurement under KMF-2011-12.
Sources in the Agriculture Department said that the FCI would be procuring paddy with effect from December 1 from the following PPCs � Tihu (Nalbari), Hoiborgaon (Nagaon), Hojai (Nagaon), Golaghat (Golaghat), Tinsukia (Tinsukia), Chaulkhowa (Dibrugarh), Tangla (Udalguri), Bindukuri (Sonitpur), Narayanpur (North Lakhimpur), Dhemaji (Dhemaji), Gossaigaon (Kokrajhar), Badarpurghat (Karimganj) and Ramnagar (Cachar).
The procurement price per quintal would be Rs 1,080.
This follows several high-level meetings between the Agriculture Minister and FCI authorities, sources added.
In another related development, a team of the marketing wing of the Agriculture Department would be visiting the north-eastern States to explore the prospects of exporting Assam�s surplus vegetables to the neighbouring States.
