The government’s rice procurement in the 2009-10 kharif marketing season beginning October is likely to be lower than the target by around 20 per cent. The total procurement is expected at 27 million tonnes as compared with the food ministry’s target of 29.4 million tonnes. Procurement in 2008-09 was at a record 33.3 million tonnes.
“Procurement has been advanced in some states. We started procurement in Punjab and Haryana on Monday and about 24,000 tonnes have been procured. We see the next season’s procurement at 26-27 million tonnes,” said an official at Food Corporation of India. The central pool had rice stocks of 17.21 million tonnes on September 1.
Annual rice consumption under various public distribution schemes is estimated at 25 million tonnes. “Even if we are able to procure 25 million tonnes, we will have a surplus of around 15 million tonnes when the procurement season begins in 2010. There is no cause for concern,” he added.
Procurement is estimated to be lower in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar due to lower output. The two accounted for over 4.6 million tonnes of procurement in the just-concluded season. Due to erratic rains in the kharif season, the overall acreage of paddy has declined by about 16 per cent to 31.54 million hectares.
Even though the agriculture ministry has not yet announced the first advance estimates of the kharif crop, the US Department of Agriculture has estimated India’s rice output for the year at 82 million tonnes in 2009-10. The country harvested a record 99.2 million tonnes rice in the 2008-09 season. Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said last month that the rice output might decline by 10 million tonnes.
In order to ensure that rice procurement does not fall sharply, the government has raised the minimum support price of paddy for the new kharif season by 11.76 per cent to Rs 950 per quintal for common grade paddy and by 11.36 per cent to Rs 980 for grade-A paddy.
