Paddy quality likely to be affected if paddy is kept in open for long period

Positive India;Raipur, January 30, 2021
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has written a letter to Union Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister Piyush Goyal and urged him to increase the permitted amount of 24 lakh metric tons of rice to be procured under the central pool in FCI to 40 lakh metric tons in the Kharif marketing year 2020-21as soon as possible, considering the interest of Chhattisgarh farmers.
The chief minister said that in the Kharif marketing season in Chhattisgarh, the paddy was procured at the minimum support price from the farmers as per the MoU with food department, government of India, under the decentralized procurement scheme for the procurement of paddy.
In the state in the Kharif marketing year 2020-21, as on 28 January 2021, under the decentralized procurement scheme, 90 lakh metric tonnes of paddy has been procured from 20.29 lakh farmers on the support price and paddy purchase will be done by 31 January 2021.
Registration of farmers for procurement of paddy on support price for Kharif marketing year 2020-21 in Chhattisgarh was done after physical verification of paddy field sown through Revenue Department and paddy was procured from registered farmers as above. Paddy farming is the main source of livelihood for the people of Chhattisgarh. In the Naxal affected areas (LWE) in the state, registration of farmers holding forest rights has been done and the work of purchasing paddy has been done. Procurement of their produce from the farmers residing in forest areas will be helpful in eradicating the Naxal problem.
In the meeting of the Food Secretaries of the Government of India for the Kharif Marketing Year 2020-21, in-principle consent has been given to take 60 lakh metric tons of rice to the central pool for Chhattisgarh, due to which it is possible to resolve about 89 lakh metric tons of paddy currently acquired. But the Food Department has been allowed by the Government of India to take only 24 lakh metric tonnes of rice (16 lakh metric tons of unna and 8 lakh metric tons of arva) under the central pool in the Food Corporation of India in the Kharif year 2020-21. The state’s PDS will require 20 lakh metric tons of rice and in addition to this, the stock of 3 lakh metric tons of rice will be kept by the Civil Supplies Corporation. In this way, it will be possible to dispose of 70.50 lakh metric tonnes of paddy from 47 lakh metric tonnes of rice which is being acquired. The state is estimated to have acquired around 93 rice rice in the Kharif year 2020-21.
Mr. Baghel has written in the letter that in the MoU, there is a directive to supply rice stock to the Food Corporation of India in addition to the requirement of PDS of the state out of the paddy acquired under clause 18 of the paddy, so the proportion of all surplus paddy remaining in addition to the state requirement by the Government of India under the said provisions. There is a request to take 40 lakh metric tonnes under the Central Pool in Food Corporation of India. He added that if the permission for the above is not given by the Government of India, then an economic loss of an amount of about Rs 2500 crores is likely, which the state government will have to bear, making the situation very worrying.
Mr. Baghel wrote that – 575.36 lakh metric tons of paddy has been procured by the Government of India till 20 January 2021 in the Kharif marketing year 2020-21, which is 466.22 lakh metric tons of paddy i.e. 23.41 percent more than during the same period in the Kharif marketing year 2019-20. In Chhattisgarh, the quantity of paddy acquired in Kharif marketing year 2020-21 is 90 lakh metric ton last year. The amount of paddy acquired in Kharif marketing year 2019-20 is 7.2 percent more than 83.94 lakh metric ton, so it is clear from the above that Kharif in Chhattisgarh region. The comparative increase of the quantity of paddy procured in the marketing year 2020-21, compared to the quantity of paddy acquired in the kharif marketing year 2019-20, is under the national average.
The Chief Minister has written that – in the Kharif marketing year 2020-21, the State Government has not announced any kind of bonus payment in addition to the minimum support price directly and indirectly. Earlier, the state government had sent information about the status of the Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyaya Yojana in the state to the Food Department, Government of India.
The Chhattisgarh government has not issued any press release regarding the bonus payment in addition to the minimum support price. After procurement on support price, the paddy is kept open in the procurement centers and collection centers. Paddy quality is likely to be affected if the paddy is kept in an open uncontrolled condition for a long period.
Mr. Baghel emphasized that sympathetically considering the above subject related to farmer interest, in the Kharif marketing year 2020-21, the state’s PDS requires additional surplus rice to be procured under the Central Pool for 24 lakhs in Food Corporation of India Permission to acquire 40 lakh metric tonnes by increasing the amount of permission for metric tons of rice has been requested to be provided as soon as possible.