Madhya Pradesh targets record rice procurement

MP is planning to almost double its annual rice procurement this year

After purchasing a record nine million tonnes (mt) of wheat in 2012-13, Madhya Pradesh is now planning to almost double its annual rice procurement from farmers — from 6,35,000 tonnes last year to 1.3 mt.

The state has already started procuring rice from Punjab and Haryana.

It is expected rice procurement by Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra would be more than that by Punjab and Haryana, the traditional contributors of rice to the central stock. Rice procurement in Bihar is likely to rise 31.03 per cent to 2.01 mt in 2012-2013, while in Maharashtra, it is expected to rise 68 per cent to 3,00,000 tonnes.

Bihar plans to set up about 8,500 rice procurement centres this year, the highest in the country.

Procurement in Punjab is expected to rise just 10 per cent to 8.5 mt, while in Haryana, it is expected to be fall 16.54 per cent to 1.67 mt.

Though Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh are likely to account for the majority of the rice purchase for the central pool, the annual incremental rise in procurement by other states would be substantial.

“As of now, the overall storage position is comfortable, as the majority of the paddy is stored with rice millers,” said Food Corporation of India (FCI) Chairman Amar Singh.

As on October 1, the government had about 71.46 mt of storage space, while grain stocks stood at about 66 mt. “The pressure would build from April, when the wheat procurement season starts,” said another official.

According to information provided by state governments to FCI, in the 2012-2013 crop marketing season, state agencies and FCI plan to purchase about 40.13 mt of rice for the central pool. This is about 15 per cent more than the procurement in the 2011-2012 season.

The rice procurement season starts from October 1. Till last week, FCI had already procured about 3.38 mt of paddy, primarily from Punjab and Haryana. “Procurement in other states would start from November,” said a senior FCI official.