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| UP likely to fall short of paddy procurement target |
| Virendra Singh Rawat / New Delhi/ Lucknow Nov 12, 2009, 00:50 IST |
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Production below 9.8 million tonnes vis-à-vis 13 MT last year
In the backdrop of drought this year, Uttar Pradesh, the country’s largest rice producer, is most likely to fall short of the paddy procurement target for the 2009-10 season.
Against the target of 1.6 million tonnes (MT), the 3,500-odd procurement centres had so far procured only about 70,000 tonnes of paddy. The target had already been kept low considering the severe drought condition.
According to official figures, the area under paddy has shrunk to under 5 million hectares compared to 6 million hectares last year. The production is also estimated around 9.8 million tonnes vis-à-vis bumper crop of 13 million tonnes last year.
Paddy acreage and production could have been lower than this had monsoon not revived at the fag end of the sowing season.
“We are more concerned about farmers getting the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for paddy than procurement target alone. The state government has sufficient buffer stock for at least one year,” UP food and civil supplies Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Mehboob Hasan Khan told Business Standard.
MSP this year stands at Rs 1,000, including bonus component of Rs 50, compared to MSP of Rs 900 last season.
Due to drought and low paddy production, Food Corporation of India (FCI) is not engaged in the procurement process this season.
“The procurement process is quite slow and the target may not be achieved this year,” UP Rice Millers’ Association secretary P C Kanodia said.
UP rice millers have to give 75 per cent of rice to government as levy on predetermined rates for use in PDS, while under custom milling, the government procures paddy from farmers and gets it milled by paying incidental charges.
The state millers may procure paddy from other states like Bihar due to low production in UP. There are about 2,000 and 8,000 rice mills respectively in the organised and unorganised sectors in the state.
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