Rice procurement may miss target by 5 lakh tonne

8 Jul, 2008, 0412 hrs IST, PTI

NEW DELHI: The government may fall short of achieving the rice procurement target of 275 lakh tonne by 5 lakh tonne in the current marketing season. “We have procured about 263 lakh tonne of rice so far. The procurement is expected to reach 270 lakh tonne,” a senior government official said.

However, Food Corporation of India chairman and managing director Alok Sinha had last month expressed confidence of achieving the target of 275 lakh tonne of procurement in the 2007-08 marketing season ending in September this year.
The total rice procurement stood at 251.1 lakh tonne in the previous season. As a result of likely fall in procurement this year, the Centre may not have surplus stock to create a 20 lakh tonne of strategic reserve for rice.

The government had decided to create a strategic reserve of 50 lakh tonne of foodgrain comprising 30 lakh tonne of wheat and 20 lakh tonne of rice. The reserve would be created after meeting the buffer stock requirement.
However, the government would not find any problem in creating a strategic reserve for wheat from this year’s procurement.

It has procured record quantity of 223 lakh tonne so far against the targeted 150 lakh tonne. Out of the procurement made in the rabi season this year, 30 lakh tonne of
wheat is available for strategic reserve, the official said.

According to the government estimate, rice production is pegged at a record 95.7 million tonne in 2007-08, compared to 93.4 million tonne in 2006-07. Farmers have started sowing paddy and the government
is expecting the acreage to go
up marginally. Till last week, paddy acreage stood at 55.9 lakh hectares against 47.1 lakh hectares in the year-ago period.

Meanwhile, Orissa government on Monday announced that it would provide 25 kg of rice every month to every family living below the poverty line (BPL) at Rs 2 per kg from August 1. “Every BPL family will get 25 kg of rice per month at Rs 2 per kg from August 1,” chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who reviewed the public distribution system (PDS) at a meeting, told reporters.

“We hope it will give considerable relief to the poor who are severely affected by price rise,” Mr Patnaik said. The decision to provide rice at Rs 2 per kg instead of the existing rate of Rs 6.30 is expected to put an additional financial burden of about Rs 800 crore on the state exchequer every year.

Besides, benefiting about 44 lakh BPL families in the state, the announcement would also cover another 5.5 lakh urban poor families and over five lakh families living above the poverty line in the backward Kalakandi, Bolangir and Koraput region. Beneficiaries of ‘Antyodaya Scheme’, who get 35 kg rice every month at Rs 3 per kg, would also be provided 25 kg of rice out of their quota at Rs 2 per kg. Orissa finance minister Prafulla Ghadei said: “The government would shoulder the financial burden to provide succour to the poor to mitigate their plight.”