Odisha CM urges Piyush Goyal for lifting of surplus rice

Bhubaneswar:  Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has urged Union Minister Piyush Goyal for lifting of 20 lakh metric tonne (LMT) of surplus rice from Odisha.

In a letter written to Goyal, Patnaik mentioned paddy procurement for kharif season 2022-23 goes to be closed by March 31, 2023 and about 65.23 LMT of paddy equal to 44.23 LMT kharif rice has been procured as on March 22, 2023.

The state has transferred MSP dues of about Rs 13,081 crore to the checking account of the farmers inside 42 to 48 hours of buy of the paddy, he mentioned.

Patnaik mentioned the state anticipated that about 10 lakh MT of rice can be procured in Odisha throughout the ensuing Rabi crop season. Thus, whole 54 lakh MT of rice is prone to be procured throughout your complete Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2022-23, he identified.

Odisha’s personal consumption below totally different schemes together with NFSA can be 24 lakh MT of rice, whereas the Department of Food and Public Distribution has set a goal to obtain 10.33 LMT of fortified parboiled rice for acceptance by FCI throughout KMS 2022-23 (Kharif) for the state.

So, the state can be left with roughly 20 lakh MT of surplus rice, the Chief Minister mentioned.

“Non-evacuation of the above quantity of surplus rice from the state will severely affect the state’s paddy procurement operations in the coming seasons as well as it will adversely impact the livelihood of lakhs of farmers of the state whose main source of earning is through MSP operations of paddy procurement,” Patnaik wrote within the letter.

He, due to this fact, urged Goyal to difficulty instructions to involved officers to simply accept the extra 20 lakh MT of surplus rice (17 lakh MT fortified parboiled rice and three lakh MT fortified uncooked rice) for the KMS 2022-23 for the curiosity of Odisha farmers.