NEW DELHI: Dismissing “rumours” of storage issue impacting paddy procurement in Punjab , Union food minister Pralhad Joshi said the Centre will procure “every single grain of paddy ” from farmers in the state. The govt also sent enough signals of ruling out any state-specific relaxation in paddy procurement norms, saying that any tweak would be applicable uniformly across states.
Rice millers in Punjab have been demanding relaxation in Out of Turn Ratio (OTR) norm, which is paddy to rice conversion, citing that paddy variety of PR-126 has been giving 4-5% lower OTR. Joshi said the variety grown is in use in Punjab since 2016 and “there had never been any such issues reported previously”.
Joshi added that there are reports of increased use of hybrid varieties being passed off as PR-126 in Punjab. These hybrid varieties have lower OTR compared to genuine PR-126 paddy, affecting millers to meet norms mandated by the Food Corporation of India (FCI).
“OTR norms prescribed by the Centre are uniform across India and are agnostic of the seed variety. Procurement nationwide is primarily based on uniform specifications, commonly called Fair Average Quality (FAQ),” the food ministry said. The Centre has engaged IIT-Kharagpur to review the current OTR norms and driage incidentals for paddy.
Amid the state BJP and a Union minister alleging the AAP govt’s inefficiency for tardy paddy lifting and counter allegation of storage crunch impacting the procurement, Joshi told reporters that sufficient storage is being created by regularly moving out grains to consuming states and also by creating new space. The minister’s assurance is seen as a positive signal from the NDA-ruled centre to the AAP-ruled Punjab govt to tide over the crisis, though both parties are poles apart.
On the slow down in paddy procurement, Joshi said it’s because of high moisture content in the grain due to rains in September, just before harvesting. “Some rumours are being spread. I want to clearly state that creating space is our (Central govt’s) responsibility and we will take care of that. Currently, there is 14 lakh storage capacity in Punjab and this will increase to 16 lakh tonnes by November 1,” Joshi said. He was accompanied by food secretary Sanjeev Chopra and FCI CMD Vanita Rattan Sharma.
Another additional 31 lakh tonne capacity is being created under the Private Entrepreneur Guarantee (PEG) scheme. Chopra said the FCI is shifting around 13 lakh tonnes rice monthly from the state to consuming centres.
On the paddy arrival and procurement, Joshi said as on Saturday, out of 54.5 lakh tonne of paddy arrival in the mandis in Punjab, 50 lakh has been purchased at minimum support price (MSP). In the last kharif marketing season during the same period, paddy arrival in the state was 65.8 lakh tonnes and 61.5 lakh tonnes of this was purchased.
The minister also mentioned that 3,800 millers have applied for paddy lifting and 3,250 of them have been allocated stock for rice conversion. The govt has cleared MSP payments of Rs 9,820 crore, of which Rs 7,641 crore has been paid to farmers.
Rice millers in Punjab have been demanding relaxation in Out of Turn Ratio (OTR) norm, which is paddy to rice conversion, citing that paddy variety of PR-126 has been giving 4-5% lower OTR. Joshi said the variety grown is in use in Punjab since 2016 and “there had never been any such issues reported previously”.
Joshi added that there are reports of increased use of hybrid varieties being passed off as PR-126 in Punjab. These hybrid varieties have lower OTR compared to genuine PR-126 paddy, affecting millers to meet norms mandated by the Food Corporation of India (FCI).
“OTR norms prescribed by the Centre are uniform across India and are agnostic of the seed variety. Procurement nationwide is primarily based on uniform specifications, commonly called Fair Average Quality (FAQ),” the food ministry said. The Centre has engaged IIT-Kharagpur to review the current OTR norms and driage incidentals for paddy.
Amid the state BJP and a Union minister alleging the AAP govt’s inefficiency for tardy paddy lifting and counter allegation of storage crunch impacting the procurement, Joshi told reporters that sufficient storage is being created by regularly moving out grains to consuming states and also by creating new space. The minister’s assurance is seen as a positive signal from the NDA-ruled centre to the AAP-ruled Punjab govt to tide over the crisis, though both parties are poles apart.
On the slow down in paddy procurement, Joshi said it’s because of high moisture content in the grain due to rains in September, just before harvesting. “Some rumours are being spread. I want to clearly state that creating space is our (Central govt’s) responsibility and we will take care of that. Currently, there is 14 lakh storage capacity in Punjab and this will increase to 16 lakh tonnes by November 1,” Joshi said. He was accompanied by food secretary Sanjeev Chopra and FCI CMD Vanita Rattan Sharma.
Another additional 31 lakh tonne capacity is being created under the Private Entrepreneur Guarantee (PEG) scheme. Chopra said the FCI is shifting around 13 lakh tonnes rice monthly from the state to consuming centres.
On the paddy arrival and procurement, Joshi said as on Saturday, out of 54.5 lakh tonne of paddy arrival in the mandis in Punjab, 50 lakh has been purchased at minimum support price (MSP). In the last kharif marketing season during the same period, paddy arrival in the state was 65.8 lakh tonnes and 61.5 lakh tonnes of this was purchased.
The minister also mentioned that 3,800 millers have applied for paddy lifting and 3,250 of them have been allocated stock for rice conversion. The govt has cleared MSP payments of Rs 9,820 crore, of which Rs 7,641 crore has been paid to farmers.
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