Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state-level agencies have kicked off this year’s rice procurement season on a slow note, with 1.4 million tonne picked up since October 1, which is 6% below the figure for the previous year’s corresponding period. An food ministry official attributed the weakness to delayed kharif harvests, due to unseasonal rains and flooding in some rice-growing regions.
FCI and state-level agencies buy rice at minimum support price (MSP) from farmers, which goes into buffer reserves and the targetted public distribution system. FCI also keeps grain stocks under the strategic reserves norm and for distribution to armed forces.
The key rice contributors this year are Punjab (8.5 lakh tonnes), Haryana (5.2 lakh tonnes) and Tamil Nadu (2.4 lakh tonnes). Procurements have started in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh to. A food ministry official told FE that the drive would commence in Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa by mid-November.
During the 2011-12 season, the government expects a record procurement of 35.31 million tonnes, anticipating a bumper paddy crop of 102 million tonnes. During the 2010-11 season which ended last month, the government had purchased 33 million tonnes.
During the 2010-11 marketing year, FCI had procured paddy (common) at Rs 1,000 per quintal and paddy (Grade A) at Rs 1,030 per quintal. If government achieves record rice procurement target this year, it would support the government in implementing the proposed National Food Security Act.
As on September 1, total rice stocks at the central pool (FCI stocks and state-level stocks) was more than 22.7 million tonnes, which was far above strategic reserve and buffer stocks norms. The government needs around 1 million tonne of rice for distribution under TPDS.