Govt confident of rice procurement target

NEW DELHI: The government on Thursday expressed confidence that it would procure enough rice for supply under the public distribution system.

���We will achieve the target of 275 lakh tonne by September 30. We are very confident about it,��� Food Corporation of India (FCI) chairman and managing director Alok Sinha said.

The rice procurement in the country has reached nearly 260 lakh tonne so far this season, but still short of the target by 15 lakh tonne. The total purchases by the government was 251.07 lakh tonne last year.

Unlike the wheat procurement that is for three months, April to June, FCI���s rice purchases spread over the entire year from October to September.

The kharif crop starts arriving at mandis from October and rabi rice comes after March. Traders said the procurement gets affected during the monsoon as farmers prepare for next sowing while rains disrupt transportation.

But the Mr Sinha said there would not be any bottlenecks from monsoon and the agency is confident of procuring the grain from east and south India. He said Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Orissa and West Bengal would help achieve the target as some of these states reap the harvest twice a year.

According to the government estimate, rice production is pegged at a record 95.68 million tonne in 2007-08 compared to 93.35 million tonne in 2006-07.