The government would procure about 1 million tonne of rice in the next 3-4 weeks, agriculture and food minister Sharad Pawar said on Saturday.
?We have procured 26.4 million tonne of rice during during 2007-08 season, compared to 25.8 million tonne last season,? Pawar said at the sidelines of an event.
Pawar?s statement comes after reports that the government may not be able to procure the targeted 27.6 million tonne of rice this year.
Earlier, government officials had said the target has been reduced to 27 million tonne because of low procurement and they hope that the Centre would be able to reach that level in the next two months, when the rice procurement rabi season comes to an end in September. The officials had said that it is a matter of concern that the government has not been able to procure enough rice despite the country producing a record 96.43 million tonne of the grain and imposing a ban on non-basmati exports.
Pawar expressed hope that there would be good crops this year. ?There were deficient rains. But the situation has improved in last 8-10 days and the trend is encouraging,? he said.