The food ministry has allowed the state government to lift rice in advance from the central pool for food security and nutrition schemes till March 2026.

Bijoy Pradhan

BHUBANESWAR: In a significant development, the Centre has revised the rice procurement estimate of the state from 50 lakh tonne to 58 lakh tonne for kharif marketing season 2024-25.

Conveying its approval, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said, “Paddy procurement estimate (in terms of rice) for KMS 2024-25 has been enhanced from 40 lakh tonne to 47 lakh tonne of kharif crop and from 10 lakh tonne to 11 lakh tonne of rabi crop.”

The food ministry has also allowed the state government for advance lifting of rice from the central pool to meet its internal requirement under food security and supplementary nutrition programmes up to March 2026. The advance lifting should be completed by November.

Sitting over a surplus rice of 12 lakh tonne, the state government has been requesting the central government to increase its quota fixed by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) for the KMS 2024-25 to create space for paddy procurement for the next kharif marketing season beginning November 1.

The state government has procured a record 92.64 lakh tonne of paddy which is equivalent to 63 lakh tonne of rice in the last KMS as against the FCI target to lift 50 lakh tonne of rice from the state to the central pool.

The state government was seriously contemplating to sell the surplus rice procured under the minimum support price (MSP) through tender process after its repeated request to the Centre for lifting the extra rice did not receive any positive response.

Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi had met Union Food minister Pralhad Joshi twice in New Delhi and written several letters to him over the issue. Deputy chief minister KV Singh Deo during his recent visit to the national capital last week met Joshi and handed over a letter from the chief minister to enhance the target of custom milled rice (CMR) to align with the state’s actual paddy production. He also pointed out that the mismatch could lead to storage and logistical challenges for the state.

Singh Deo had also requested Joshi for extension of CMR delivery deadline from October 31 to December 31 and suitable instruction to FCI to expedite evacuation of rice from the state.

Published Date: October 22, 2025