Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan Advocates to Increase Procurement of Parboiled Rice from Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has appealed to the Central Government to take measures for procuring an additional 10 lakh metric tons (LMT) of parboiled rice from Odisha, aiming to benefit the state’s farmers. In a letter addressed to Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister Piyush Goyal, Pradhan highlighted that Odisha ranks as the fourth-largest paddy-producing state in the country.

The Kharif season of 2023-24 witnessed exceptional rice yields in Odisha, with procurement already underway through Minimum Support Price (MSP) operations, bringing substantial returns to lakhs of farmers, as mentioned in the letter released to the press on Wednesday.

Considering the bumper harvest, Pradhan estimated that approximately 79 LMT of rice would be collected during the Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2023-24 in Odisha. He pointed out that the initial allocation of procurement targets by the Centre is 44.28 LMT, leaving surplus parboiled fortified rice after meeting the state’s requirements for National Food Security Act (NFSA), State Food Security Act (SFSA), and other welfare schemes. Pradhan urged the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to evacuate this surplus by increasing procurement targets.

In his letter, Pradhan requested Minister Goyal to issue instructions to FCI for the procurement of an additional 10 LMT of parboiled rice from Odisha in KMS 2023-24. This move, coupled with an augmentation of procurement targets, would significantly contribute to securing the livelihoods of numerous farmers in the state, whose primary source of income is derived from MSP operations in paddy procurement, emphasized Pradhan.