By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, February 12, 2017 : Odisha government has set an ambitious target to make all the Primary Agricultural Credit Society (PACS) computerised by end of March this year in its attempt to ensure timely payment to farmer for paddy procurement.

Around 841 PACS have not been computerised so far. About 2708 PACS in Odisha work for paddy procurement, supplying seeds, fertilizers and agricultural equipment to farmers.

As PACS plays a major role in paddy procurement from farmers, a proposal of Rs 12 crore-financial assistance has been made under Rastriya Krushi Bikash Yojana towards computerisation of PACS.

The PACS are procuring paddy from State Paddy Corporation, Odisha State Cooperative Marketing Federation (Markfed) and Tribal Development Co-operative Corporation (TDCC). The programme is in progress through Procurement Automation System (P-PAS) in 294 blocks in the State.

The farmers get their payment through direct benefit transfer (DBT) system. Under DBT, a beneficiary gets payment amount in his account. As most of the PACS have not been computerised, delay occurs in transferring the amount at their bank accounts.

The other challenge that the government is facing in implementing the traditional DBT model is the requirement of minimal information technology (IT) infrastructure at villages and Internet connectivity in rural areas.

Keeping this in mind, the government is planning to introduce Rupay KCC as the substitute to Kisan Credit Card (KCC) passbook system to ease the procurement and payment process for the farmers.

In view of the non-banked panchayats, the government is planning to appoint the PACS as the Business Correspondents there. The decision is likely to be taken soon.