Comments
Rice procurement from Haryana in the coming Kharif marketing season is set to dip by about 13 per cent, following fall in area under paddy and deficient rains.
“The paddy arrival in coming season is expected to be 26 lakh tonne,” a senior official of the Haryana Food and Supply Department told PTI today, adding that the procurement arrangements for crop have been made.
The Haryana government has projected 26 lakh tonne of paddy arrival (common and Grade-A variety) in comparison to the arrival of about 30 lakh tonne in last season for the central pool, a decline of over 13 per cent.
“Rice procurement will be 17.25 lakh tonne, meant for central pool for 2012-13 season against rice procurement of 19.81 lakh tonne during 2011-12 season,” an official of Food Corporation of India (FCI) said.
Paddy procurement for central pool in Punjab and Haryana starts from October 1.
Out of total procurement of paddy, state agencies will procure 24.55 lakh tonne, 45,000 tonne by FCI and one lakh tonne by private millers during coming procurement season.
Rice procurement from Haryana in 2008-09 was 14.25 lakh tonne which shot up to 19.81 lakh tonne in 2011-12 season.
Deficient rain, along with severe power shortage in northern region during June and July when sowing of paddy takes place hit area under its cultivation in Haryana, which has a share of 7 per cent in country’s rice procurement.
Area under paddy shrunk to 10.62 lakh hectares in current season against acreage of 12.35 lakh hectares in last season, recording 14 per cent decrease in area.
“The rice production in this year in Haryana will be lower primarily because of decline in area under paddy and impact of deficient rain,” Haryana Agriculture Department Joint Director Rajinder Solanki said.
Despite eyeing high yield of 31.50 quintals a hectare, Haryana has pegged rice output at 33.45 lakh tonne, lower than production of 37.59 lakh tonne recorded last year.
The Haryana government had even sought a financial package of Rs 4,050 crore from the Centre in the wake of deficient rain during June and July, saying that state government and farmers had to spend extra money to save crops.
Farmers had to spend an extra sum of Rs 3,000 per hectare on paddy crop to nurture their crop in the wake of poor rain and severe power shortage.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.