Rice procurement by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) for the Centre’s buffer stock in the 2023-24 season (October-September) has reached 50.09 million tonnes (mt) until May 31, which is 5.7 per cent lower than 53.11 mt procured in the year-ago period due to a drop in most of the States.

According to the latest data from the Food Ministry, as much as 46.21 mt of rice has been procured from the kharif-grown crop and 3.89 mt from the rabi crop in the 2023-24 season. The purchase of kharif-grown paddy is already over in all the States except Assam, where it will continue till June 30.

The government had set the rice procurement target at 52.49 mt from the the kharif-grown crop and 10.32 mt from the rabi season for 2023-24. While there is a deficit of nearly 6 mt in procurement from the kharif season which is unlikely to be met since Assam has so far reported a 55 per cent drop in official purchases, the pan-India rabi season’s procurement looks good, official sources said.

Need for welfare programmes

Against 3.6 mt of rice purchased in April-May last year, the government has bought nearly 3.9 mt of rice from rabi season’s crop.

The government needs 40-41 mt of rice annually to run all the welfare programmes including the obligation under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). Considering that the opening stock of rice (including paddy in terms of rice) with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) on October 1, 2023, was at 31.5 mt, the surplus quantity purchased over the requirement will be good enough to build a robust buffer, which may be around 43-44 mt, sources said.

The Centre’s total rice purchase was 56.87 mt in 2022-23 from all kharif, rabi and zaid seasons.

Telangana largest producer

In West Bengal, the third largest rice producer in 2023-24, the procurement of kharif-grown paddy ended on May 31 and the Centre could buy only 0.8 mt against 0.5 mt in 2022-23. The target in West Bengal was to buy 1.2 mt of rice this year whereas the government had bought 2.2 mt in 2022-23.

Amid Telangana becoming the country’s largest rice producer this year with an estimated production of 16.63 mt, the Centre had set a target of 10 mt which included 5 mt each from kharif and rabi season. While from kharif-grown crop, the Centre could buy only 3.17 mt of rice from the State, as much as 2.53 mt (in terms of rice) from rabi crop has been purchased until May 31. The total purchases are down 11.6 per cent from the year-ago period.

Apart from Telangana, the rabi grown rice procurement has been reported at 0.49 mt in Andhra Pradesh, 0.2 mt in Kerala and 0.25 mt in Odisha and 0.41 mt in Tamil Nadu, official data show.

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