India to raise buffer norm on record purchase of foodgrains

The government will raise the buffer norms for rice and wheat in a month's time to maintain food security following record procurement of foodgrains, which is expected to be about 565 lakh tonnes this year.

"The buffer norms will be revised upwards and a technical group has been entrusted with the task," a top government official said here today.

Without disclosing how much quantity will be raised, the official added that the new norms would be ready in a month.

Buffer norms are the minimum foodgrains the Centre should have in the Central Pool at the beginning of each quarter to meet requirement of public distribution system and other welfare measures.

The government has not changed the buffer norm of both rice and wheat since April 2005.According to the norm, the minimum rice in the Central Pool should be 118 lakh tonnes on January 1, 122 lakh tonnes on April 1, 98 lakh tonnes on July 1 and 52 lakh tonnes on October 1.

Similarly, the quantity of wheat should be 8.2 million tonnes on January 1, four million tonnes on April 1, 17.1 million tonnes on July 1 and 11 million tonnes on October 1.

The government also hopes that procurement of wheat and rice will be 24 million tonnes and 31 million tonnes this season. With 1.5 million tonnes of coarse grains such as jowar and bajra, the total foodgrain purchase by the Centre could reach 56.5 million tonnes, the official said.The government had earlier asked the National Centre for Agricultural Economics and Policy Research (NCAP) to study the buffer norm and make recommendation on increasing it if the demand has gone up.

The technical group is also studying the report of NCAP, the official said.

According to the report, demand for rice and wheat under the public distribution system has gone up which is evident from the rising offtake of the grains from allocations made by the Centre in the last 2-3 years.

Since demand has increased and procurement is also at an all time high, the buffer norm should be revised, a food policy expert said.

Rice procurement, which began on October 1, till date has reached an all time high of 29.23 million tonnes.The purchase programme for 2008-09 season would continue till September this year.

Wheat procurement, that started on April 1, stands at record 23.49 million tonnes as on today this season. The procurement will end in June 30, unless extended.