Team News Riveting
Chhattisgarh will emerge as the second largest supplier of rice to the central pool as the Government of India is estimated to procure 60 lakh tonne of rice in the kharif marketing season (KMS) 2020-21.
Around 495.37 lakh tonne rice has been estimated for procurement during the forthcoming KMS 2020-21 (Kharif Crop) season which is 19.07 per cent more than the 416 LMT procurement estimate of KMS 2019-20 (Kharif Crop). In KMS 2019-20 (Kharif Crop), actual procurement of paddy (in terms of rice) was 420.22 LMT, which was a record procurement.
During ensuing KMS 2020-21, procurement estimates for Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have jumped over 100 per cent and for Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar and Jharkhand are higher by 50 percent and more in comparison to KMS 2019-20.
Secretary with the department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD) Sudhanshu Pandey chaired a meeting of State Food Secretaries through video conference recently to discuss the procurement arrangements for ensuing Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2020-21.
The leading States in terms of estimated procurement of rice are Punjab (113 lakh tonne), Chhattisgarh (60 lakh tonne) and Telangana (50 lakh tonne) followed by Haryana (44 lakh tonne), Andhra Pradesh (40 lakh tonne), Uttar Pradesh (37 lakh tonne) and Odisha (37 lakh tonne), a central government communication said.
Chhattisgarh has outshined Telangana to secure second spot in sharing rice to the central pool as Punjab retained the title of leading the states. The volume of central procurement would also bring relief for the Chhattisgarh government. The state government is facing fiscal stress as it has been bestowing bonus and paying Rs 2500 for a quintal of paddy purchased from the farmers as minimum support price (MSP).
Chhattisgarh is likely to procure over 95 lakh tonnes of paddy in the current KMS.
