Naveen presses for surplus rice lifting by FCI

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has hit out at Food Corporation of India (FCI) for not lifting surplus rice produced in the state.

Pointing out that FCI has not moved even a single grain of rice since the beginning of this fiscal, Patnaik said the state is left with a spill over balance of 0.15 million tonnes of the food grain from the kharif marketing season of 2010-11. He has sought the intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, urging him to ensure that at least 100,000 tonnes of rice lying idle is evacuated every month from Odisha by FCI.

"As rabi procurement has already started, unless surplus rice is moved out from Odisha immediately, the state will not be in a position to ensure procurement and thereby harm the interest of the farmers”, Patnaik said in the letter to the Prime Minister.

In the current kharif marketing season (from October 2011), FCI has moved only 72,000 tonnes of rice to other consuming states.

Instead of filling its godowns with rice, FCI has filled them with more than 0.2 million tonnes of wheat (as on April 30, 2012) which corresponds to the state's consumption for six months.

During the last kharif marketing season (KMS) of 2010-11, Odisha procured 2.49 million tonnes, of which the state consumed two million tones under public distribution system (PDS).

It also consumed 0.25 million tonnes of rice under various welfare porgrammes and for the additional quotas which were lifted from FCI depots.

This left the state with a surplus of about 0.25 million tonnes against which FCI moved around 0.1 million tonnes to other consuming states.

"Along with a carrying balance of 0.15 million tonnes of rice from KMS of 2010-11, the state has procured 2.16 million tonnes of rice in the current KMS till the end of April this year. Consequently, all godowns available with Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation (OSCSC) and the millers are brim full with either paddy or rice leaving little scope for any further procurement”, the letter stated.

"As the state has started procuring paddy under rabi season from the second week of May this year and is likely to achieve an output of 0.6 million tonnes, the state is not in a position to receive the paddy from the farmers due to lack of space with either FCI or OSCSC. With the monsoon expected to hit the state in the second week of June, the rabi procurement has to be completed by June 15. Thus, urgent evacuation of surplus rice is necessary to ensure smooth procurement”, it added.