Tamil Nadu witnesses a massive shortfall of 9.26 lakh tonnes in paddy procurement for PDS

02-Sep-2024 07:27 PM

Chennai. In the southernmost state of the country, Tamil Nadu, 44.22 lakh tonnes of paddy was procured for the Public Distribution System (PDS) in the 2022-23 marketing season, which fell by 9.26 lakh tonnes to 34.96 lakh tonnes in the 2023-24 season.

There was a decline of 4.33 lakh tonnes in paddy procurement in 10 districts of the Cauvery delta region and 4.93 lakh tonnes in other parts of the state.

Due to low procurement of paddy, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) food bill is likely to increase as the FCI mainly depends on the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation to procure paddy from farmers on its behalf.

It is worth mentioning that the Food Corporation of India has to supply 37.50 lakh tonnes of rice to Tamil Nadu every year under the National Food Security Act and other schemes.

The 34.96 lakh tonnes of paddy purchased in the 2023-24 season is actually equivalent to 23-24 lakh tonnes of rice.

As a result, the Food Corporation will have to make additional purchases from other states to meet the needs of Tamil Nadu.

Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu Food Supply Corporation has started the process of opening direct purchase centers for the purchase of paddy from farmers in the procurement marketing season of 2024-25 from September 1.

The revised minimum support price of paddy has been fixed at Rs 2450 per quintal for 'A' grade and Rs 2405 per quintal for general category.

Last year, due to many reasons, the area and production of paddy in Tamil Nadu had decreased, due to which its government procurement has decreased.

This time the production is expected to be better. The state government is planning to buy more quantity of paddy from the farmers.