News Analysis India

Tag: Food Corporation of India

  • Government expects higher rice procurement of 518 LT in Kharif season despite output worries

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The government on Tuesday fixed the rice procurement estimate for the central pool at 518 lakh tonnes (LT) for the current Kharif season, up by 1.60 per cent from the last year despite production concerns.

    The estimates were finalised after discussion with state food secretaries and Food Corporation of India (FCI) officials in a meeting chaired by Union Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey here.

    The meeting was called to finalise Kharif rice procurement estimates and discuss preparations to be made for rice procurement that will commence from October onwards.

    “A quantity of 518 lakh tonne rice has been estimated for procurement during the forthcoming KMS 2022-23 (Kharif Crop) as against 509.82 lakh tonne actually procured during last KMS 2021-22(Kharif crop),” the food ministry said in a statement after the meeting.

    In the meeting, the Secretary told state governments that the focus should be on the procurement of millets, not only on account of the International Year of Millet-2023 but also because of climate changes.

    Climate changes have been adversely affecting wheat and rice and resulting in a reduction in their production, he said.

    A quantity of 13.70 lakh tonnes of coarse grains “super food” has been proposed for procurement by the states during the forthcoming 2022-23 Kharif marketing season as against the actual procurement of 6.30 lakh tonnes as of date.

    The government procures paddy and converts it into the rice at mills.

    The procurement is undertaken at MSP by the state-owned Food Corporation of India (FCI) as well as state organisations.

    The government has fixed the minimum support price (MSP) of ‘common’ grade paddy at Rs 2040 per quintal and ‘grade A’ at 2060 per quintal for the 2022-23 marketing year.

    Highlighting the problem of shortage of packaging material, the Secretary said starting October arranging packaging material has become a challenging task as only 50 per cent of the requirement of could be arranged through jute mills.

    To address the problem, the ministry is exploring possibilities of increasing the production/availability of new jute bags by ways of testing new technology like smart Jute Bags (SJB), he said.

    As per the report, trials have been found successful and these are at the final stage, he added.

    Higher rice procurement has been estimated despite production concerns in view of lag in the paddy coverage so far due to poor rains in some parts of the country.

    As per the agriculture ministry’s data, the total area sown to paddy remained down by 5.99 per cent at 367.55 lakh hectares (ha) till the last week of the ongoing Kharif season due to poor rains in some states especially Jharkhand, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh.

    Paddy was sown in 390.99 lakh hectares in the year-ago period, the data showed.

    During the meeting, issues relating to the adoption of mechanized procurement operations, gunny bags requirements, online settlement of food subsidy claims and reduction in the cost of procurement operations were discussed.

    Adoption of innovative techniques and quality control mechanisms, borrowing at lower interest rate, promotion of millets among other issues were discussed.

    “It was suggested that such innovations should be incentivized,” the statement said.

    Representatives from 23 states including Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal attended the meeting.

    IMD and agriculture ministry officials were also present at the meeting.

    NEW DELHI: The government on Tuesday fixed the rice procurement estimate for the central pool at 518 lakh tonnes (LT) for the current Kharif season, up by 1.60 per cent from the last year despite production concerns.

    The estimates were finalised after discussion with state food secretaries and Food Corporation of India (FCI) officials in a meeting chaired by Union Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey here.

    The meeting was called to finalise Kharif rice procurement estimates and discuss preparations to be made for rice procurement that will commence from October onwards.

    “A quantity of 518 lakh tonne rice has been estimated for procurement during the forthcoming KMS 2022-23 (Kharif Crop) as against 509.82 lakh tonne actually procured during last KMS 2021-22(Kharif crop),” the food ministry said in a statement after the meeting.

    In the meeting, the Secretary told state governments that the focus should be on the procurement of millets, not only on account of the International Year of Millet-2023 but also because of climate changes.

    Climate changes have been adversely affecting wheat and rice and resulting in a reduction in their production, he said.

    A quantity of 13.70 lakh tonnes of coarse grains “super food” has been proposed for procurement by the states during the forthcoming 2022-23 Kharif marketing season as against the actual procurement of 6.30 lakh tonnes as of date.

    The government procures paddy and converts it into the rice at mills.

    The procurement is undertaken at MSP by the state-owned Food Corporation of India (FCI) as well as state organisations.

    The government has fixed the minimum support price (MSP) of ‘common’ grade paddy at Rs 2040 per quintal and ‘grade A’ at 2060 per quintal for the 2022-23 marketing year.

    Highlighting the problem of shortage of packaging material, the Secretary said starting October arranging packaging material has become a challenging task as only 50 per cent of the requirement of could be arranged through jute mills.

    To address the problem, the ministry is exploring possibilities of increasing the production/availability of new jute bags by ways of testing new technology like smart Jute Bags (SJB), he said.

    As per the report, trials have been found successful and these are at the final stage, he added.

    Higher rice procurement has been estimated despite production concerns in view of lag in the paddy coverage so far due to poor rains in some parts of the country.

    As per the agriculture ministry’s data, the total area sown to paddy remained down by 5.99 per cent at 367.55 lakh hectares (ha) till the last week of the ongoing Kharif season due to poor rains in some states especially Jharkhand, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh.

    Paddy was sown in 390.99 lakh hectares in the year-ago period, the data showed.

    During the meeting, issues relating to the adoption of mechanized procurement operations, gunny bags requirements, online settlement of food subsidy claims and reduction in the cost of procurement operations were discussed.

    Adoption of innovative techniques and quality control mechanisms, borrowing at lower interest rate, promotion of millets among other issues were discussed.

    “It was suggested that such innovations should be incentivized,” the statement said.

    Representatives from 23 states including Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal attended the meeting.

    IMD and agriculture ministry officials were also present at the meeting.

  • Wheat procurement & lifting impacted in Punjab, 18 farmers have committed suicide so far

    Express News Service

    CHANDIGARH: The procurement operation of wheat this season in Punjab has been impacted as till yesterday different central and state government agencies, including the Food Corporation of India have purchased only 85.98 Metric Tonnes (MT) going by the trend it does not seem the state will archive it’s target, as the wheat arrivals have gone down in grain markets across the state this is due to shrivelled grain problem as no decision has been taken by the Union Government till now on giving relaxation, also farmers are holding back the crop expecting surge in prices later on as global wheat is increasing due to Russia-Ukraine war and private player purchasing the crop above Minimum Support Price (MSP). 

    Also this season till yesterday only 62.81 per cent of wheat has been lifted. Thus approximately eighteen farmers have committed suicide to date across the state this month alone due to low yield on wheat.

    As per the data with the state food and supplies department as of April 25 the total wheat procurement was 90.61 MT of this government agency purchased 85.98 MT and private traders 4.62 MT. From 2009-10 till last year, the highest private purchase was in 2014-15 which was 2.9 LMT which was 2.4 per cent. While last year also the picture as almost similar as on April 25 it was 84.17 LMT of that84.15LMT was purchased by government agencies and only 2,376 KG by private players.

     The target fixed by the Food Corporation of India for 2022-23 for Punjab is 132 lakh MT as 132.22 LMT wheat was procured in 2021-22. Going by the trend it does not seem the state will archive it’s target as it seems it will remain around 100 LMT.

    A senior official of the department said that this time the farmers are holding back wheat as they are expecting high prices after few day or months as the prices of the grain are increasing in the global markets. So they are not bringing their crop to the grain market. Also the private players this time arepurchasing more wheat from the farmers and paying them more than the Minimum Reserveprice (MSP) as they are giving them Rs 2,025 per tonne against the MSP of Rs 2,015 per quintal. The main factor is the wheat grain is shrivelled by 10 to 20 per cent thus yield of wheat is also low.

    While this time the lifting is also slow as 62.81 per cent as  51.16 lakh MT of wheat has been lifted and 30.30 MT is yet to be lifted as of yesterday by different central and state government agencies from the 2,321-grain markets and procurements centres across Punjab.

    The main reason for slow lifting is that the contracts for transportation and labour were allotted during the term of the previous government and it is alleged that the contractors who did not have the requisite number of trucks and labour for the job were given these contracts.

    ALSO READ: Wheat procurement from Punjab expected to remain below 100 lakh MT

    “If we compare with last year, the pace of lifting this year is almost similar. Every year for a few days when there is a glut in mandis within few days, the entire stock will be lifted and shifted to godowns,” said an official.

    A senior officer of FCI said that they are waiting for the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution to take a decision on relaxing specifications, following which they will lift the grain. Even the direct delivery of wheat to the FCI is stalled till this issue is resolved.

    This month eighteen suicides have been reported to date across Punjab due to the low yield of wheat of these 11 in malwa region. As per the data gathered by BKU (Ugrahan) the largest farmer union of Punjab, fourteen farmers have committed suicide in different parts of Punjab till date this month.

    “On April 18, 38-year-old Ramandeep Singh of Bajak village in Bathinda died as he consumedpesticide on April 14 due to the low yield of the grain. While Gurdeep Singh (28) of Mansa Khurd village in Bathinda hanged himself and Jaspal Singh of Maiserkhana village also in Bathinda jumped before the train on April 20 and Randhir Singh of Bhagivander villagen also Bathinda district was found dead in a pound. Manjit Singh of Paddi Sura Singh village in Hoshiarpur district consumed position on April 23. All these farmers committed suicide due to the low yield of wheat and the government should give Rs 10 lakh per family as compensation,’’ claimed Sukhdev Singh General Secretary of BKU (Ugrahan).

    Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has appealed to the Union Government to relax the specifications for shriveled grains in the purchase of wheat in the state without the imposition of any value cut, thereby protecting the incomes of the farmers who are already impacted by low yield and severe farm debt.

    He said that despite the passage of one week since the central teams, deputed by the Ministry of Food and  Public Distribution, completed their task and submitted their report to the ministry highlighting the extent of shriveling of the grain, no decision has been taken by the Union Government. He emphasized that farming issues are required to be resolved on high priority and the delay isimpacting the procurement operations.

    BOX: Input Costs High The input costs have gone up as fertiliser,  pesticides, seeds, and diesel needed to operate tubewells and tractors have shot up substantially this year. The prices of diammonium phosphate (DAP) have increased from Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,350 per 50 kg.

  • Punjab govt in a spot after panel suggests FCI procurement of grains 

    Express News Service
    CHANDIGARH:  With only months left for the Punjab Assembly elections, the state government has found itself in a tough spot. An expert panel constituted by the state government to suggest medium and long-term economic strategies for Punjab in the wake of Covid-19 has recommended that the state stop foodgrain procurement and leave the task entirely to the Food Corporation of India (FCI).  It has also recommended that the government rationalise power subsidies and shut down two thermal power plants.  

    However, withdrawing from food grain procurement or rationalising power subsidy would upset farmers whom the government is trying to woo. The panel led by Montek Singh Ahluwalia called power subsidy an “unsustainable fiscal practice, which will harm future generations and cannot continue indefinitely.”Punjab’s power subsidy bill including free electricity to farmers is pegged at more than Rs 10,000 crore.

    Notably, in its first report, the panel had described free power to farmers as “highly regressive” and had said it has limited the “government’s ability to incur other expenditures essential for Punjab’s development.” The panel also called on the government to shut down two thermal power plants that have completed their economic life span and are now producing coal at a much higher cost. 

    “We would reiterate our recommendation in the first report that Punjab State Power Corporation Limited should shut down two thermal plants that produce power at a much higher cost than alternatives available to PSPCL, once these plants have completed their economic life span. Earlier, PSPCL had shut down Bathinda thermal Power plant as well. We however recommend that for these two plants, PSPCL should carry out advance planning to recover the best price for the assets and to ensure a smooth transition to other power sources,’’ the report said.

    The panel, which includes leading economists, was set up last year by the state government to frame a medium and long-term post-Covid economic strategy for Punjab. The panel said that the state government could reduce losses on foodgrain procurement operations. “Given the large presence of FCI in the procurement process, the State government should gradually withdraw,” the panel said.  Among other recommendations, the panel suggested an increase in budget allocation for the healthcare sector by 20% and setting up of Punjab Enterprise Promotion Panel.

  • Farmer bodies stage stir at FCI offices demanding remunerative MSP for crops

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) and other farmer bodies held protests at FCI offices on Sunday and raised various demands, including a remunerative minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

    The protesters submitted a memorandum addressed to the Union consumer affairs minister regarding strengthening the procurement system of the Food Corporation of India (FCI).

    The demands included withdrawal of a decision to submit “jamabandhi” for the procurement of wheat, rolling back direct payments to farmers in their bank accounts and a remunerative MSP for crops.

    “Purchases should be done on a remunerative MSP and strict action should be taken against buyers who purchase below that MSP,” the memorandum said.

    The process of crop procurement should be completed in the minimum time.

    It should be ensured that farmers do not face any problem due to a lack of bags and other facilities, a statement issued by the SKM said.

    Farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, under the banner of the SKM, have been camping at various border points of Delhi demanding a repeal of three contentious farm laws brought by the Centre and a legal guarantee to the MSP on crops.

  • CBI conducts surprise checks at FCI godowns in Punjab, Haryana

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The CBI conducted surprise checks at 20 Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns in Punjab and Haryana on Friday after getting a number of complaints regarding alleged irregularities, officials said.

    The move is part of preventive vigilance to check corruption at locations where public dealing takes place, they added.

    The action started jointly with vigilance teams of the FCI at about 20 locations in the two states, the officials said.