Government's rice purchase swells 21 pc to 28.4 mt so far this year

NEW DELHI: The government's rice procurement has increased by over 21 per cent to 28.41 million tonnes so far in the 2015-16 marketing year despite prospects of lower production due to poor monsoon.

The Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state government-owned agencies undertake procurement operations at the minimum support price (MSP). The Centre has kept rice procurement target of 30 mt for the current marketing year, which started in October.

As per the food ministry data, these agencies have procured 28.41 mt of rice so far this year as against 23.42 mt in the year-ago period.

The procurement from eastern states like Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh has increased significantly.

The rice procurement from Punjab has increased to 9.35 mt from 7.78 mt while the purchase from Haryana has risen to 2.86 mt from 2.01 mt. The procurement in these two states is over.

Among other states, rice purchase in Chhattisgarh has increased to 3.97 mt so far this marketing year, from 3.35 mt in the year-ago period.

The purchase of rice has gone up in Andhra Pradesh to 2.71 mt from 1.54 mt while the procurement in Uttar Pradesh has grown to 2.70 mt from 1.42 mt in the said period.

In Odisha too, rice purchase rose to 2.04 mt so far this marketing year as against 1.94 mt a year ago. However, the purchase in Telangana was down at 1.01 mt as against 1.54 mt in the said period, the data showed.

The government expects overall rice procurement to exceed last year's level of 32 mt.

As per the second estimate of the agriculture ministry, rice production is estimated to decline to 103.61 mt in 2015-16 crop year (July-June), from 105.48 mt during 2014-15, due to the poor monsoon.

The agencies buy paddy from farmers and hand it over to millers for conversion into rice. The government has fixed the minimum support price of common variety of paddy at Rs 1,410 per quintal for 2015-16 kharif season.