The Hindu Business Line : Rice procurement set to touch all-time high

Wheat on shaky ground
Government agencies have procured only 92.09 lt of wheat as on May 19 in the 2006-07 rabi marketing season.
The season is likely to close with total purchases at 92.98 lt, lowest in almost a decade.

New Delhi , May 21

For old-timers, particularly in the South, wheat was an alien food till the advent of the public distribution system (PDS). Since ration shops predominantly stored wheat and not much rice, chappatis and puris steadily acquired pan-Indian acceptability to routinely feature in at least one meal of the day.

But with wheat production stagnating in recent years - courtesy, shorter winters and premature crop ripening - the wheel is set to turn full circle. Unlike the past, it is rice - hardier crop capable of growing in more diverse environs as long as there is water - that is increasingly becoming the mainstay of the PDS.

Wheat at a low ebb

During the 2006-07 rabi marketing season (April-June), Government agencies have procured only 92.09 lakh tonnes (lt) of wheat as on May 19. The season is likely to close with total purchases in the vicinity of the 1997-98 level of 92.98 lt. That makes it the lowest in almost a decade.

The story is just the opposite for rice, where procurement during the ongoing 2005-06 season (October-September) is slated to cross an all-time high of 26 lt. Cumulative procurement so far has been 245.44 lt, against the 217.26 lt purchased during the corresponding period of 2004-05.

Impetus for rice

What is even more impressive about rice is that its procurement has been spread across the country, with new States such as Chhattisgarh, Orissa and West Bengal emerging as significant contributors. Of the aggregate 245.44 lt procured till date, the major chunk is still from the traditional surplus States: Punjab (88.37 lt), Andhra Pradesh (32.39 lt), Uttar Pradesh (28.10 lt), Haryana (20.40 lt) and Tamil Nadu (7.36 lt).

But the real impetus is coming now from other States, including Chhattisgarh (29.03 lt), West Bengal (12.06 lt), Orissa (11.97 lt) and even Bihar (7.66 lt), Maharashtra (1.68 lt) and Madhya Pradesh (1.31 lt).

Contrast this to wheat, where Punjab (69.40 lt) and Haryana (22.29 lt) have delivered more than 99 per cent of the 92.09 lt procured by Government agencies this season.

Precarious wheat position

A reflection of how precarious wheat supplies to the PDS has become is that as on April 1, stocks in the Central pool, at 20.09 lt, were half the 40-lt minimum buffer norm for that date. At the current rate of procurement and offtake, wheat stocks on July 1 are expected to be around 100 lt below that normative buffer of 171 lt for that date. The 35 lt imports announced so far by the Government would only partially bridge this gap.

On the other hand, rice stocks on April 1, at 136.75 lt, stood well above the 122 lt buffer norm. All eyes are now on a good monsoon, which would help further consolidate rice supplies to offset the uncertainties on the wheat front.