HYDERABAD: The Rice Millers Association (RMA) on Tuesday questioned the Union government’s decision to ban the export of non-Basmati rice due to alleged food grain shortages.
Expressing their ability to supply 30,000 to one lakh metric tonnes of rice on a daily basis to the Food Corporation of India (FCI), they wanted to know, “how far it is fair to impose a ban, when we are providing rice supplies.”
Addressing a press conference here, they however alleged that their stocks submitted under a customised rice scheme were being rejected by FCI under some pretext or the other. The association denies any misappropriation of paddy collected from farmers and cites various challenges, including increased broken rice percentage, soaked paddy and inadequate storage capacity. The FCI’s imposition of stringent quality standards for Fortified Rice Kernels (FRK) adds to their predicament, they said.
Pouring out their woes, RMA president Gampa Govardhan said that the FCI has been creating new predicaments by stating inadequate quality in terms of Fortified Rice Kernels (FRK) standards. Meanwhile, the Rice Millers Association urged the State government to permit them to process the paddy, collected in the previous procurement season, into parboiled rice to avoid breakage of rice grains.