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The Centre is hopeful of procuring an estimated 230 lakh tonnes of rice including paddy equivalent this year despite late sowing and excessive rain in six States. The Minister of Agriculture and Food and Civil Supplies, Shri Sharad Pawar, said this while opening a day-long conference of State Food Secretaries here today. He said in the last 10 days there has been a good progress in sowing paddy. Hence, probably the earlier anticipated shortfall of 8 million metric tonnes of paddy production would be tided over. Shri Pawar said the Centre is confident to fulfil the rising demands of rice in the country. He called upon the States to set up an effective machinery to safeguard the farmers’ interests. They have to prevent the exploitation of farmers.
The Minister of State for Food and Public Distribution, Dr. Akhilesh Prasad Singh also impressed upon Food Secretaries to ensure effective MSP(Minimum Support Price) operations for the benefit of farmers especially in the non-traditional States.
During the kharif marketing season 2004-05 ending on September 30, 2005, the total estimated procurement is likely to reach a record high of 242 lakh tonnes. Coarse grains procurement is also likely to be over 10 lakh tonnes in the coming season. The Minister emphasized the need to popularise coarse grains under the Public Distribution System.
The meeting was informed that as of August 8 this year, the area coverage under rice all over the country is over 223 hectares compared to 227.33 lakh hectares in 2004. The States showing additional coverage over the previous years are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Haryana. The area coverage has been reported low in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Orissa.
As for coarse cereals, the area coverage was 216.05 lakh hectares as of August 8 this year compared to 222.91 lakh hectares in the previous year. The area coverage this year has been more in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh. But it is lower in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu as per the latest data.
Monsoon had covered the whole country by the end of June, 2005. The cumulative seasonal rainfall between June 1 and September 30 this year is expected to be normal. Six States have had excessive rains while eight States had inadequate rainfall. In the remaining States the rainfall has been normal.
The Secretary, Food and Public Distribution, Shri R.N. Das, guided the deliberations.
Food Secretaries of the Governments of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, West Bengal and Andaman and Nicobar Islands attended the day-long meeting.
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