UP rice mills on modernisation spree with state govt back-up

With back-up support from the state government, the rice mills in Uttar Pradesh are gearing up for modernisation.

The government is preparing a blueprint for modernising the mills to ensure quality- control in the milling process, so that the finished rice fetches better price. The state food and civil supplies ministry has already held a meeting with the UP Rice Millers Association and millers to discuss the issue.

There are about a 1,000 large rice mills in the state, while the number of smaller units is about 3,000 in the state. A large mill has a capacity to mill nearly three tonnes paddy an hour.

The main elements in the rice mills’ modernisation are dryer and sorting machines, which cost about Rs 20-30 lakh and Rs 30-60 lakh respectively.

“The modernisation of a unit would cost Rs 10 million (Rs 1 crore) and we have suggested the state government to either provide subsidy or interest free long term loans,” a leading rice miller and Association’s ex-president Sanjeev Agarwal told Business Standard.

He said modernisation would be economically viable only for large mills due to higher milling volume.

At present, almost 25 per cent of the state mills are equipped with dryer and sorting machines. “In another 2-3 years, all the mills are likely to adopt modern technologies if the state government provided the required help,” he said.

Meanwhile, about 1.3 million of paddy had been procured in the state against the target of 2.5 million for the current paddy procurement season. Besides, Rs 1,600 crore had been paid to farmers against the purchase.

In a recent review meeting, chief secretary Jawed Usmani had expressed displeasure over the disruption in procurement due to the intermittent strikes by the food marketing department inspectors.

Paddy is cultivated across UP, while 7 districts fall under high productivity including Bijnore, Kushingar, Pilibhit, Chandauli, Baghpat, Ambedkar Nagar and Varanasi.

Paddy is highly dependent on south-west monsoon, which occurs over the subcontinent from June through September.

The kharif crop is chiefly sown between March and August and harvested between June and December.