Poor paddy yield affects CMR production

Custom milling of rice has come to a halt as millers are finding it hard to procure paddy of good quality.

Untimely rain in Chhattisgarh, received in last two-three months, severely damaged paddy yield in the state. Though there was no production loss, quality of paddy, produced, was reported to be of poor grade.

“With the quality of paddy produced this year, it is very difficult to produce custom milled rice (CMR),” Pramod Jain, state secretary of rice millers’ association told Business Standard. More than 60 per cent of rice mills in the state have remained closed as millers are left with no work, he added.

Jain said, earlier there was problem with the milling of parboiled rice. Now the millers are finding it hard to mill raw rice. “Millers demanded increase of percentage of broken grain in the custom milled rice, from 25 per cent to 30 per cent, but the government paid no heed,” he added.

According to experts, rains lashed the region before harvest and damaged paddy crops. “The grains had become very weak and there was every possibility of its breaking during custom milling,” experts said, adding that since the government will not accept rice with greater proportion of broker grains, most of the millers had stopped the work.

With the custom milling of rice coming to a standstill in the state, authorities had swung into action to resolve the crises at the earliest. In districts, custom milling work is going on at snail's pace.

“We have asked officials to speed up work and complete the custom milling by 30 June,” Principal Secretary with food department Vivek Dhand said.