With a bumper crop of rice this kharif, the Government has requested the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to lift at least 1.20 lakh tonnes of rice every month from the State to make space for rabi procurement.
According to a review by the Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare department in the last week of May, the Government has procured nearly 46 lakh tonnes of paddy which is equivalent to over 31 lakh tonnes of rice.
“Paddy procured till the end of May is 41 per cent more and the custom milled rice (CMR) delivery is 44 per cent of the kharif marketing season last year,” Food Supply Secretary Madhusudan Padhi said.
The Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation (OSCSC), the nodal agency for paddy procurement, has purchased 42.35 lakh tonnes of paddy (equivalent to 28.8 lakh tonnes of rice) by the end of May. The corporation has, however, delivered 12.4 lakh tonnes of rice out of which nearly 3 lakh tonnes have been delivered to FCI.
Bulk of the rice procured by the corporation goes to the public distribution system to meet the BPL rice quota of the State. The total annual requirement of BPL rice in the State is about 22 lakh tonnes.
The latest estimate of the State said that over 13.88 lakh tonnes of rice have been delivered till the end of May. The CMR so far delivered is more than 16 lakh tonnes which is likely to rise due to bumper rabi harvest, Padhi said. Official sources said over 5.05 lakh tonnes of rice have been delivered to FCI during the current kharif marketing season (KMS) and utilisation of storage space is 88 per cent.The State Government has requested the Central agency to evacuate at least 1.20 lakh tonnes of rice from the State every month. Accordingly, FCI has been shifting rice stock from the State to make space for rabi procurement.
The Government has planned to deliver 1.78 lakh tonnes of rice to FCI in June, the sources said. In view of the bumper production of rice, the State had to revise its procurement target from 30 to 35 lakh tonnes for 2012-13 kharif season.