Good increase in government procurement of rice in many states

02-Jul-2025 05:26 PM

New Delhi. A total of 525.48 lakh tonnes of rice was procured for the central pool in the entire marketing season of 2023-24, which improved by 1 percent to 531.13 lakh tonnes in the current marketing season of 2024-25. Official data shows that during the period under review,

government procurement of rice increased from 16.79 lakh tonnes to 19.91 lakh tonnes in West Bengal, from 48.20 lakh tonnes to 51.30 lakh tonnes in Odisha, from 20.38 lakh tonnes to 24.63 lakh tonnes in Andhra Pradesh, and from 16.79 lakh tonnes to 24.37 lakh tonnes in Tamil Nadu.

Apart from this, rice purchases during the 2024-25 season rose from 63.86 lakh tonnes to 71.25 lakh tonnes in Telangana, jumped from 20.63 lakh tonnes to 26.28 lakh tonnes in Bihar, improved from 36.05 lakh tonnes to 38.66 lakh tonnes in Uttar Pradesh, and from 28.25 lakh tonnes to 29.16 lakh tonnes in Madhya Pradesh.

The Food Corporation of India and its provincial agencies procured paddy equivalent to the above quantities and paid the minimum support price (MSP) to farmers accordingly.

However, government procurement of rice declined in key contributing states like Punjab, Haryana, and Chhattisgarh.

During the review period, rice procurement in Punjab fell by 6.6 percent from 124.31 lakh tonnes to 116.13 lakh tonnes, in Chhattisgarh from 83 lakh tonnes to 70 lakh tonnes, and in Haryana from 39.49 lakh tonnes to 36.17 lakh tonnes.

It is noteworthy that for the 2024-25 marketing season, a procurement target of 124 lakh tonnes in Punjab and 40 lakh tonnes in Haryana had been set.

The procurement process in Chhattisgarh ended on January 31. For the Rabi marketing season, a national procurement target of 71.70 lakh tonnes of rice was set.