News

Rabi paddy procurement has been paralysed in the backward district as custom millers have stopped work for the past three days as a mark of protest against an order of Odisha Civil Supply Corporation to stop payment of handling charges of Rs 4 per quintal paid to them. Odisha Civil Supply Corporation in its 12 June order discontinued the handling charges paid to the custom millers for delivering the stock of rice at Rice Receiving Centres-cum-Departmental Storage Centres (RRCs-cum-DSCs) and stacking inside the godown. About 2 lakh quintals of Rabi paddy are yet to be procured from farmers. 12.51 lakh quintals of Rabi Paddy have already been purchased in 70 purchasing centers run by 43 Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies. Delay in procurement of paddy by the state government has become a major problem for the farmers due to the onset of monsoon. They fear that bags of paddy bags stocked at different procurement centres may get spoilt in the rain.

The area under paddy has come down from roughly 30.46 lakh hectares during the last season to 28.45 lakh hectares now. Going against the guidelines issued by the Agriculture Department, Punjab farmers in several villages have started transplanting paddy. As per the Sub Soil Water Conservation Act the Agriculture Department would destroy the paddy if is transplanted even a single day before June 15 and the farmer would be made to pay for it. Many farmers also believe that the labour is easily available during the initial days and thus it is convenient for them to transplant paddy on time.

Rice basmati prices fell further by up to Rs 200 per quintal at the wholesale grains market today owing to fall in demand against adequate stocks position. In the national capital, rice basmati common and Pusa 1121 variety slipped to Rs 6,600-6,800 and Rs 5,500-5,800 from previous levels of Rs 6,800-7,000 and Rs 5,600-5,900 per quintal, respectively.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has confirmed that a variant of commercial well-milled rice is being sold for more than P5,000 per sack in conflict-stricken Marawi City. The brand Happy Meal Well-Milled Rice was being sold in Marawi costs P5,600 per 25-kilogram sack. Other commercial rice products are available in the Lanao del Sur provincial capital at lower prices, generally costing up to P50 a kg.

State-run National Food Authority (NFA) is set conduct in the first week of July the bidding for 250,000 metric tons of rice supposedly to beef up government buffer stocks during the lean months.