Rice procurement estimated 300.50 lakh tonnes during 2014-15

New Delhi: In the meeting of State Food Secretaries held today procurement target for Rice during Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2014-15 has been finalised as 300.50 lakh tonnes. During KMS 2013-14 the actual Rice procurement was 266.49 lakh tonnes against target of 320.59 lakh tonnes. Despite deficit monsoon and delayed sowing the targets of procurement for Kharif crop are comparable to the last Kharif season’s procurement target and exceed the actual procurement of last year’s Kharif crop.

The meeting chaired by the Secretary of Department Food, Shri Sudhir Kumar also reviewed arrangements for procurement of paddy and coarsegrains for KMS 2014-15. States have been asked to open adequate purchase centers and deploy sufficient manpower. They have also been advised to make arrangements for publicizing MSP fixed, procurement centers opened etc through print and audio-visual media as well as through pamphlets in local languages. State Governments have also been asked to give details of storage plan for the ensuing KMS and should have an action plan to meet the deficit in storage requirement. Regarding Packaging material, Food Secretaries were requested to place indents for purchase of jute bags in time to avoid last minute shortage of packaging material.

Shri Sudhir Kumar told the States that Online Procurement Monitoring System (OPMS) has been evolved for reporting and monitoring of procurement operations for wheat, paddy and coarsegrains in the country on a daily basis. State Government were requested to ensure that all state agencies should start feeding data at revenue district level into the system on a daily basis.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.