West Bengal had fixed the target of rice collection at 22 lakh tonnes till September, he said, adding that Burdwan district, considered the state's rice bowl, would alone contribute 3.32 lakh tonnes.
The total collection this year would be higher than last year's 20.5 lakh tonnes and the government to ensure that the farmers could sell their rice will set up 60 camps.
Quality control camps would be set up at Memari, Katwa and Raina in Burdwan district alone, he said, adding that a total 70,000 tonnes had been collected from it.
He said the government already had a stock of 68,000 lakh tonnes left from last year's collection, out of which half would be sent to tribal Jangalmahal for distribution.
The food minister said out of total 518 rice mills in the state 396 were functioning and the state was losing money and levy rice due to it.
"The government is taking steps to open the closed rice mills and state Agriculture Minister Moloy Ghatak and Small Scale and Land Affairs Minister Swapan Debnath have been asked to convince the mill owners," he said and also appealed to Bengal Rice Mill Association to help.
Referring to the errant mill owners, he said FIRs had been registered against three rice mills for not giving the levy rice to the government.