Purchases so far in Nov up at 64.69 lakh tonnes against 62.35 a year ago.

By Prabhudatta Mishra

Over 5 per cent rise in rice procurement this month has helped the government to narrow the 20 per cent gap to 11 per cent so far this season. Rice procurement, which commenced on October 1, was 148.93 lakh tonnes (lt) as of November 17 against 166.86 lt a year ago. The rice procurement was down by 20 per cent until October 31 and 48 per cent lower until October 15.

According to official data, the Centre purchased 64.69 lt during November 1-17 against 61.35 lt a year ago, up by 5.44 per cent.

Punjab may top target

Rice procurement in Punjab, the largest contributor of the grain to the Central Pool stock, reached 102.97 lt as of November 17, down 11 per cent from 15.66 lt a year ago. “As high as 54 lt was purchased this month alone from the State even as there has been constant pressure to shift the existing grain out of the State,” said an official source.

Punjab government hopes to exceed the target of 124 lt as there is bumper production and in the next 10-12 days the procurement may be completed, official sources said. On October 27, Union Food Minister Pralhad Joshi assured that every grain in the current rice procurement season in Punjab would be procured.

In Haryana, where the procurement period ended on November 15, the government purchased 35.99 lt, which is 8.5 per cent lower from 39.33 lt a year ago. Trade sources said there has been some shift from non-Basmati to Basmati rice in Haryana. As a result, the arrival was lower than last year.

Target raised

The government raised the target to buy 492.11 lt of rice from the kharif-grown crop in 2024-25 marketing season (October-September) from across the country after an upward revision made for Bihar. The target was 521.27 lt for kharif 2023-24. The total rice procurement was 525.37 lt from both kharif and rabi crops in 2023-24 and 569.4 lt in 2022-23.

The Centre has approved the request of Bihar government to increase the rice procurement target to 30 lt from 23 lt, which was fixed before procurement season started, sources said.

Procurement in Haryana began from September 27 and in Tamil Nadu from September 1, while it commenced from October 1 in Punjab and west Uttar Pradesh.

The rice purchase in Tamil Nadu is down by 10.7 per cent to 3.24 lt from 3.63 lt a year ago. The Centre has allowed consumer cooperative NCCF also to buy rice in the State for the Central Pool stock.

When other States have reported lower rice procurement, Uttar Pradesh has seen 32 per cent rise in purchases at 2.54 lt against 1.92 lt a year ago. Both western and eastern parts of the State have reported higher purchases. Uttarakhand, on the other hand, has seen rice procurement drop 28.5 per cent to 2.23 lt from 3.12 lt. Telangana’s rice procurement, too, dipped 45 per cent to 1.24 lt from 2.26 lt.

Published Date: November 19, 2024