Case Study of the Day: Paddy Procurement Automation System (P-PAS) in Odisha

Context: To overcome the problems associated with paddy procurement process, Odisha has launched the web application named ‘Paddy Procurement Automation System (P-PAS)’ in 2012.

About P-PAS

• Challenges that Inspired P-PAS
  • Manual procurement process resulted in unwanted delays and harassment to farmers.
  • Lack of a single formula to calculate Paddy surplus, used to hamper the procurement operations, thereby leaving the farmers waiting with their produce for indefinite time.
  • Farmers were paid through cheques, which often took a long time for farmers to collect. This forced farmers to sell their produce to traders in immediate need of cash.
  • Overall monitoring of the program, at district and state level wasn’t possible, as there was no idea about the progress on procurement, fund requirement at ground level.
• Objectives of P-PAS
  • To provide a common Platform for all stakeholders (farmers, PACS, Millers, State Government)
  • To make the paddy procurement process at the mandis easy and efficient.
  • To ensure error free transactions and generation of key documents from web applications.
  • Effective monitoring & coordination among stakeholders due to information sharing.
  • To optimize fund flow by directly transferring paddy cost to farmers account from state HQ.
  • To increase Farmers’ participation by transparent process.
• Implementation
  • Challenging aspects of computer procurement and internet connectivity was first ensured.
  • Complementing farmers’ registration project was taken up to create a digitized database of farmers interested in selling surplus to state agencies.
  • Advance intimation would be sent to farmers through SMS, for sale of surplus paddy on each mandi based on handling capacity.
  • Further, all information relating to procurement and transaction were made available on the website, to ensure transparency.
• Impacts of P-PAS
  • Procurement ease and quantity went up.
  • Delays in payment to farmers have reduced.
  • Number of farmers participating in the procurement process has gone up.
• As a result of the achievements, the central Government accorded recognition to P-PAS initiative by awarding it in 2016, during the National e-Governance Award ceremony for outstanding performance in citizen centric public service delivery.

Sharing is caring!