Bhubaneswar: Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has urged the Centre to take steps for procurement of 10 lakh metric tons (LMT) more parboiled rice from Odisha for the benefit of the farmers of the state.
In a letter to Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister Piyush Goyal, he said Odisha is the fourth largest paddy-producing state in the country.
In the Kharif season of 2023-24, the rice yield in Odisha has been phenomenal and procurement has already commenced which is accruing good return to lakhs of farmers through the MSP operations, the Education Minister said.
Due to the bumper harvest, it is estimated that approximately 79 LMT rice will be collected in Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2023-24 in Odisha, Dharmendra said in his letter, copy of which was released to the press on Wednesday.
Stating that the Centre has allocated a target of procuring 44.28 LMT of rice in the initial allocation of targets, he said enough parboiled fortified rice would be left in excess after meeting the state’s requirement for NFSA, SFSA and other welfare schemes and it needs to be evacuated by Food Corporation of India (FCI).
“Therefore, I request you to kindly issue instructions to FCI to procure 10 LMT of parboiled rice from Odisha in KMS 2023-24 in addition to augmentation of procurement targets, which will significantly help secure the livelihood of lakhs of farmers of the state whose main source of earning has been through MSP operations of paddy procurement,” said Dharmendra.
