Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has requested the Centre to procure the surplus Kharif rice from the state to enable it to procure paddy from the farmers in coming seasons.
In a letter to Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution on Monday, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said Odisha became a Decentralised Procurement (DCP) state from the Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2003-04. Since then, the state has been undertaking MSP operations for procurement of paddy in decentralised mode.
During 2022-23 Kharif season, a record 14,94,320 farmers have sold paddy to the government at MSP. The rice
milled from the paddy is being used under the National Food Security Act and other welfare schemes of the government and the surplus rice is being delivered to the Food Corporation of India (FCI).
“Paddy procurement for the Kharif season will be closed by March 31. About 65.23 lakh ton of paddy equivalent to 44.23 lakh ton Kharif CMR has been procured as on March 22 and MSP dues of about Rs 13,081 crore transferred to the bank account of the farmers. In the ensuing Rabi season, it is expected that about 10 lakh ton of CMR will be procured in the state. Thus, total 54 lakh ton CMR is likely to be procured during KMS 2022-23. Odisha’s own consumption will be 24 lakh ton of rice under NFSA, SFSS and Other Welfare Schemes,” Naveen said.
“The Department of Food and Public Distribution, Government of India has issued a target of 10.33 lakh ton of fortified parboiled rice for acceptance by FCI during KMS 2022-23 (Kharif) for Odisha. So, the state will be left with approximately 20 lakh ton of surplus rice,” he further said.
The chief minister pointed out that non-evacuation of the surplus rice from the state will severely affect the paddy procurement operations in the coming seasons and affect the livelihood of lakhs of farmers whose main source of earning is through MSP operations of paddy procurement.
“In view of above, I would request your personal intervention for issuing a direction to accept additional 20 lakh ton of surplus rice for the KMS 2022-23 for the interest of farmers,” Naveen said in the letter.
