Subadh Kumar Nayak

Koraput: While the State government somehow managed to convince the farmers of Western Odisha to withdraw their protest against the newly-introduced centralised token system for procurement of paddy, the farmers of South Odisha mainly in Koraput district have now launched protests allegedly due to non-receipt of tokens restricting sale of paddy.

Even though paddy procurement began 10 days ago, farmers of Jeypore block alleged that they are unable to sell their paddy as they are yet to receive any token from the State government.

Arunkanth Mohapatra, a farmer of Panjiaguda village, had cultivated paddy on his 15 acres of land. However, he alleged that he has neither got any token nor received any message from the State government. "I am facing lot of difficulties as I have kept the paddy in the threshing yards. I am unable to take the paddy to the mandi as I am yet to receive the token. I have no idea when I will get it," said Mohapatra.

The Koraput Farmers’ Association, meanwhile, has threatened to launch a protest march from Jeypore to Koraput Collectorate if the government fails to initiate measures to resolve their issues. “We are not protesting the token system. We demand tokens to be generated in the district level," said Jayant Patnaik, another farmer.

On the other hand, Koraput District Food Supply Officer, Tularm Nayak said that the problem arises as the farmers have a wrong notion about the token system. "The farmers think that the tokens are being generated in state-level. But it is the local SHGs who are given the charge to generate the token. The large area multi-purpose cooperative societies (LAMPS) and the SHG will update information about the farmers' crop in the system once they are informed by farmers," said Nayak.

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