The UP government today approved the paddy procurement policy for the 2006-07 kharif season. The minimum support price of paddy will be the same as the one announced by the Centre. | |
| The government has set a target of procuring 1 million tonnes of paddy from farmers during the season. The procurement process would begin on October 1 and continue till the end of February next year. In the last Kharif season 2005-06, against the target of 1 million tonnes, total procurement was 1.046 million tonnes. |
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| The government has also lowered the recovery percentage of rice from the common variety paddy and the 'Selah' variety. For east UP, the recovery of the common variety has been set at 62 per cent and for the 'Selah' variety 63 per cent. |
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| For west UP, recovery of common variety of rice has been fixed at 64 per cent and 65 per cent for the 'Selah' variety. |
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| A senior food department official said despite incurring huge losses, the government had agreed on reducing the recovery percentage only to ensure remunerative prices and preventing distress sales. |
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| The official said the recovery has been fixed as per the standards and norms laid by the Centre. The Centre has fixed overall recovery percentage at 67 per cent and 68 per cent for 'Selah' variety, while the actual recovery was lower. |
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| "Due to the lower recovery, the private rice mills were reluctant to enter into contracts with the official paddy procurement agencies for the customised milling of the rice, which made procurement agencies reluctant to purchase paddy from the farmers at the minimum support price," said an official, adding this was leading to distress sales in several districts during 2005-06. |
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| UP will lose as much as Rs 50 crore due to the reduction in minimum recovery percentage, which has never been compensated by the Centre. UP will also incur a loss of Rs 10 crore as it has allowed similar facilities and terms and conditions to the NAFED, an agency of the Union government for the paddy procurement in the state. |
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| In last five years the production of paddy had been erratic in UP, which is also reflected in the total procurement by the official agencies. In 2001-02 the production was 18. 7 million tonnes and procurement was 900,000 tonnes. |
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| In 2002-03, the paddy production and procurement slumped to 13.6 million tonnes and 400,000 tonnes, respectively. |
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| In 2003-04, the production improved to 19.4 million tonnes and also the procurement to 1.043 million tonnes. In 2004-05 production dipped to 15.7 million tonnes and procurement to 775,000 tonnes. In 2005-06, paddy production stood at 15.15 million tonnes and procurement was 1.046 million tonnes. |
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