Govt procures 20% more rice this season

Rice procurement by the Centre on Monday crossed the 10-million tonne (MT) mark, with an increase of over 20 per cent from the corresponding period last year.

“Rice procurement in the on-going season has reached 10.17 MT as on November 17 compared to 8.47 MT in the year-ago period,” a senior official of Food Corporation of India (FCI) said.

The government aims to procure 27.6 million tonnes of rice in 2008-09 season (October-November) for which it has announced the minimum support price (MSP) at Rs 850 a quintal for common variety and Rs 880 a quintal for ‘Grade A’.

Besides, the Centre also announced a bonus of Rs 50 a quintal over and above the MSP for this season. The rice procurement began from October 1 in all states except in Haryana, where it was advanced to September 22 at the request of the state government.

 

Despite advancing the procurement schedule in Haryana, the government has procured lower quantity of rice — 1.23 MT till November 17, compared to 1.32 MT in the year-ago period. Among the states, Punjab farmers contributed the highest with over 8 MT.