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NEW DELHI: The Meals Company of India (FCI) has allayed fears of any issues resulting from decrease wheat procurement this 12 months and expressed confidence in shopping for a amount greater than the annual requirement beneath all welfare schemes.
Briefing the media on the achievement of FCI since its inception in 1964, FCI Chairman and Managing Director Ashok Kumar Meena mentioned, “There isn’t a trigger for concern concerning the availability of rice for buffer.” The amount of rice procured to date is sweet sufficient to satisfy the requirement of welfare schemes, he mentioned.
Whereas the annual requirement of the rice beneath all welfare schemes is 40-41 million tonnes (mt), the present season’s (October 2023-September 2024) procurement has reached 31.1 mt till January 2. “We’re properly on track to satisfy the requirement,” Meena mentioned.
Rice procurement within the first three months because the season started on October 1 has dropped 14 per cent to 29.93 mt from 34.79 mt within the year-ago interval. In October-December 2022, rice procurement was 11 per cent larger than 2021 stage. Specialists see the present 12 months’s buy could miss the goal of 52.13 mt by a giant margin.
“One cause for decrease procurement is that paddy costs within the open market are additionally very excessive. The opposite cause is the tempo of procurement was gradual in States like Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh resulting from meeting elections,” Meena mentioned. The paddy procurement is more likely to decide up going ahead as these States are about to announce bonus to farmers, he mentioned.
However, in Uttar Pradesh, paddy procurement is sluggish because the open market costs this 12 months stay excessive, he mentioned. In response to the FCI, whole foodgrain inventory was 67.32 mt, together with 32.83 mt of unmilled paddy by way of rice, as of January 1.
FCI is the central nodal company that buys rice and wheat to make sure MSP to the farmers and distributes the grains without cost to 81 crore poor by way of ration retailers. It additionally makes use of surplus grain by means of the OMSS scheme to spice up home availability and examine costs.
In response to FCI, 5.9 mt of wheat has been bought within the open market by means of weekly e-auction beneath the OMSS since June 2023, which has helped stabilise the retail costs. There was damaging progress in retail wheat costs on y-o-y foundation whereas it about 13 per cent in rice.
As FCI has been providing large amount of rice by means of weekly public sale, although offtake just isn’t good, the costs won’t enhance considerably, he mentioned. There was a lukewarm response for rice and FCI has been in a position to promote solely 0.15 mt of rice although reserve value is fastened at ₹29 per kg.
Confirming that there’s a proposal to launch Bharat rice, much like Bharat atta and Bharat Dal, Meena refused to share additional particulars. The federal government has been promoting “Bharat Dal” (gram dal) at ₹60/kg and “Bharat atta” at ₹275/10 kg by means of cooperatives Nafed, NCCF and Kendriya Bhandar. The FCI has knowledgeable the meals ministry that it has sufficient rice inventory for the scheme if launched. Officers estimate {that a} most of three mt will probably be required for “Bharat rice”.
Supply: The Hindu Enterprise Line
The put up India Will Procure Extra Than Required Rice For Buffer Shares, Says FCI CMD first appeared on Newest India information, evaluation and experiences on IPA Newspack.
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