Rice procurement drops by 1% this season

Procurement of rice has dropped by 1% to 25.68 million tonnes (MT) so far in 2010-11 marketing season that started in October last year as compared to the corresponding period an year ago.

Food Corporation of India (FCI) had procured 25.87 MT of rice to this date last year, according to the latest FCI data. 

Punjab, the largest contributor to Centre's kitty last year, has contributed 8.63 MT to the central pool in the current marketing season (October-September), against 9.28 MT in the same period last year.

In Andhra Pradesh, the government agencies were able to buy more rice this season. Procurement in AP stood at 4.27 MT so far, against 3.96 MT in the previous year. 

Likewise, the government's purchase in Chhattisgarh has risen to 3.50 MT till yesterday from 3.03 MT in the year-ago period, according to the government data.

In contrast, procurement from Orissa dipped to 1.56 MT during the period under review from 1.83 MT in the corresponding period an year ago, it said. FCI had procured 32 MT of rice during the entire 2009-10 marketing year (October-September).

According to Agriculture Ministry's latest projection, the country is expected to produce 94.11 MT of rice in 2010-11 crop year (July-June) as against 89.09 MT last year.