India to buy 6.7% more summer-sown rice for welfare schemes

India is planning to buy 33 million tonnes of summer-sown rice from farmers in the 2016/17 season for its food welfare programmes and meet emergency needs, it said in a statement on Friday.

The world's second biggest rice producer had bought 30.93 million tonnes of rice a year before.

The government agencies usually start paddy rice procurement in September and buy mainly non-basmati rice. The purchases help farmers in avoiding distress sales.

As on July 29, farmers have cultivated rice on 23.19 million hectares, slightly higher than 22.56 million hectares during the same period a year ago.