 "rice, rice industry")
Three states — Punjab, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh, account for more than 50 per cent of the total rice procurement in the country. Ironically, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, the top two rice-producing states, account for less than 10 per cent of the total procurement.
According to data from Food Corporation of India (FCI), in 2017-18 Kharif season, of the 36.18 million metric tonne of rice procured by various agencies, about 11.83 tonne was from Punjab, followed by 3.99 metric tonne in Haryana and 3.87 metric tonne from Andhra Pradesh. Together, the three states accounted for close to 54 per cent of the total rice procurement by government in the country.
West Bengal is the largest producer of rice, and accounts for nearly 13-14 per cent of the total rice production in the country. However, only 54000 metric tonne of rice was procured by government agencies last year, which is just about 0.36 per cent of the total rice production in the state.
Uttar Pradesh, which is the second largest producer of rice, had 2.87 million tone procured from the government. The situation in UP is better than West Bengal, for government procurement is about 23 per cent of the produce, against less than one percent in case of West Bengal.
In contrast, rice procurement in Punjab and Haryana is close to 100 per cent of the produce, and in some years, the quantity exceeds production.
In absence of a robust foodgrain procurement mechanism in most states, often traders flock in Punjab, Haryana and Chattisgarh to sell rice procured from farmers in other states at a rate lower than MSP.
“The mechanism for government procurement is functional only in few states — Punjab, Haryana, Chhattisgarh. Traders take the actual benefit of MSP, as they buy produce from farmers through distress sale in states like Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal, and sell it in states like Punjab at MSP," according to Vijay Sethia, president, All India Rice Exporters Association.
Over the last few years, rice procurement has remained close to 30-35 per cent of the total produce, even as production has jumped substantially due to the introduction of various high–yielding crop varieties. Rice production in India increased from about 89 million tonne in 2009-10 to about 104 million tonne in 2015-16, a rise of about 17 per cent.
“Rice cultivation hardly comes with any profits. The problem has accentuated in the eastern part of the country, as the demand for traditional parboiled rice is gradually shrinking. Long-grain rice from states like Punjab and Haryana is flooding the market in eastern India. As a result, farmers hardly get any remunerative price for local produce. Bangladesh too has achieved self-sufficiency in rice production, and hence exports have been affected in states like West Bengal,” according to according to Pranab Chatterjee, professor at Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya (BCKV).
Ahead of Lok Sabha next year, the government hiked the minimum support price for paddy by a record Rs 200 per quintal—one of the steepest rise in the last few years.
Data from the NSSO survey on household consumption suggests between 2004-05 and 2011-12, the monthly per capita consumption of rice in urban areas declined from 6.77 kg to 6.24 kg. Per capita consumption of PDS rice has, however, doubled in rural India and risen by 66 per cent in urban India since 2004-05, implying the share of PDS purchases in rice consumption has risen substantially, according to the NSSO.
