FCI plans to procure 521L MT paddy, says chairman
TIRUCHY: The Food Corporation of India (FCI) has fixed a target of procuring 521 lakh MT paddy during the current Kharif season across the nation, said the Chairman and Managing Director of FCI Ashok Kumar K Meena on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of unveiling Dr Ambedkar’s statue at the divisional office of FCI in Thanjavur, Ashok Kumar Meena said, India has reached self-sufficiency in paddy production and so there might not be any shortage for rice. Although a few places may fail in production, it would be compensated by other areas in the country.
“Thus we procure 570 lakh MT paddy every year and the same procurement takes place for wheat also,” he said.
Stating that the wheat requirement for the previous year was 262 lakh MT, the FCI chief said the wheat procurement was made beyond requirement. This apart, the requirement for rice under Prime Minister’s Kharif Kalyan Yojana was 400 lakh MT but the FCI procured 570 lakh MT rice which is 170 lakh MT more than the actual requirement and 80 crore people have been distributed with food grains under the scheme, he said.
The FCI chief said that the open market system was introduced to control price rise and it was established to ensure food grains availability to those who are not the beneficiaries of Prime Minister’s Kharif Kalyan Yojana.
Speaking that the target of 521 lakh MT rice procurement has been fixed by FCI for this year, Ashok Kumar Meena said that he was confident of procuring rice more than the set target.
Meanwhile, he said that the MSP for millet has been provided in view of millet year and the state and Centre has been jointly procuring the grains. While Karnataka has commenced the procurement of millets with the MSP fixed by the Union and the state governments, Rajasthan has announced the procurement process and the same would be followed by other states across the country, he added.
The FCI chief appealed to the farmers to ensure moisture level below 17 per cent, which would pave the way for distribution of quality rice to the consumers. FCI General Manager P Muthumaran and others accompanied him.
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