With reports suggesting a bumper harvest on cards in the rabi season, the Telangana government has announced the procurement of paddy. Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has asked Chief Secretary A Santhi Kumari to take measures to begin procurement.
The paddy area in the rabi season increased by 32 per cent in the country to 46.25 lakh hectares. The bulk of the area comes from Telangana, which grew the crop in about 19 lakh hectares, followed by Tamil Nadu with 12.21 lakh ha and Andhra Pradesh with 5.51 lakh ha.
The State government will open 7,000 procurement centres across Telangana. The State, however, faces the issue of milling as the mills are brimming with stocks from the 2022-23 Kharif and the leftover stocks from the 2021-22 seasons.
Of the 1.12 crore tonnes of paddy to be procured from the 2022-23 Kharif season, an aggregate of 65 lakh tonnes of paddy worth ₹13,371 crore was purchased so far. From the 2021-23 Kharif and rabi seasons, the State has a backlog of about 20 lakh tonnes of unmilled paddy.
Though it agreed to extend the deadline for milling and delivery of paddy from 2021-22 rabi season, the Centre declined to extend the deadline. With the mills not able to meet the increased level of procurement, the Centre directed the State to increase the milling capacity to avoid delays in milling and delivery of rice to the Central pool.
Buy parboiled rice: Kishen Reddy
Meanwhile, Union Tourism Minister and senior BJP leader G Kishan Reddy has appealed to Commerce and Food and Public Distribution Minister Piyush Goyal to procure at least 15 lakh tonnes of parboiled rice from Telangana.
The Centre has refused to buy parboiled rice from Telangana, stating that there are no takers for this variety of rice. Recently, it cautioned the State government that it would buy only raw rice from the State, indicating that the doors are closed on parboiled rice.
Mills prefer to boil the paddy partially to reduce the percentage of broken rice in the milling process. Since the grain is exposed to punishing temperatures in March and April, the percentage of broken rice is much higher than in Kharif season.
To reduce losses, mills prefer to produce parboiled rice, which is consumed only in a few States.