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The Telangana government has said that the message is loud and clear that the Centre is not going to procure parboiled rice from Telangana in future.
The high-level Telangana Government team led by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, which is presently in New Delhi, said the Union Government indicated to it that it is not going to buy parboiled rice from the State.
“The Union Government has made it clear that it is not going to buy the parboiled rice. It is the end of the road for the rabi rice,” an official from the Chief Minister’s Office said.
Why FCI does not want to procure parboiled rice from Telangana
The delegation, which comprises three Ministers, 10 Members of Parliament, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar and a few other top officials, is in Delhi, seeking to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, Piyush Goyal and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
The main demands of the State government include clarity on whether the Centre would procure the rabi rice and an assurance that it would announce an annual plan of procurement well ahead of the agricultural season.
With sowing phase for rabi season having started, farmers in the State are eagerly waiting for a final word on the paddy procurement.
The Centre had informed the State government early this year that it can’t buy parboiled rice because of the huge pile of stocks, which can take care of the country’s needs for the next 4-5 years.
“If they say, the farmers will have to switch to alternative crops,” a senior State government official said.
Promote production of ricebran oil, fortified rice: Centre to Telangana
Rabi sowings have begun in the State with pulses and oilseeds taking initial gains. As they await the Centre’s decision, farmers have not started paddy sowings yet.
The delegation, sans the Chief Minister, met Piyush Goyal and Tomar Tuesday night. The talks remain inconclusive. The two sides are going to meet again on November 26.
Kharif rice
The State is also asking the Union Government to increase the paddy procurement target from the present 60 lakh tonnes (which is about 40 lakh tonnes of rice) as the arrivals are expected to be very high. “They said they will get back to us on November 26 on this,” the CMO official said.
The State demanded that the Union Government come out on annual procurement well ahead of the agricultural year to help it prepare well for the kharif and rabi seasons.
“The Centre has liked the idea and felt that it is implementable,” he said.
Paddy area numbers
Even as the State and Centre are engaged in talks with regard to rabi rice, kharif procurement too faces some issues.
While the State government claimed that the paddy area in the just-concluded kharif is 62.13 lakh acres, the Centre used satellite pictures and concluded that the area was 58.66 lakh acres.
The State wants the Centre to increase the kharif procurement target in order to help farmers who grew more paddy this year.
The State expects total production of 1.65 crore tonnes of paddy from the kharif season.
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