Rice Procurement Estimated at 495.37 LMT for Kharif Crop Season of 2020-21

Secretary, Department of Food & Public Distribution (DFPD), Government of India, chaired a meeting of State Food Secretaries through video conference on 11.09.2020, to discuss the procurement arrangements for ensuing Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2020-21. Around 495.37 LMT rice has been estimated for procurement during the forthcoming KMS 2020-21 (Kharif Crop) season which is 19.07% more than the 416 LMT procurement estimate of KMS 2019-20 (Kharif Crop). In KMS 2019-20 (Kharif Crop), actual procurement of paddy (in terms of rice) was 420.22 LMT, which was a record procurement.

During ensuing KMS 2020-21, procurement estimates for Tamil Nadu & Maharashtra have jumped by 100 percent and more, and for Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar and Jharkhand are higher by 50 percent and more in comparison to KMS 2019-20. The leading States in terms of estimated procurement of rice are Punjab (113 LMT), Chhattisgarh (60 LMT) and Telangana (50 LMT) followed by Haryana (44 LMT), Andhra Pradesh (40 LMT), Uttar Pradesh (37 LMT) and Odisha (37 LMT).

In view of COVID-19, Secretary, DoFPD requested all States to take necessary steps to ensure social distancing during procurement operations. Other issues of States regarding food subsidy were also discussed during the meeting.