FCI hikes storage capacity

RAKHRA Patiala Sept 30: The Food Corporation of India has been increasing storage capacity in Punjab to meet the problem of plenty of p...

RAKHRA Patiala Sept 30: The Food Corporation of India has been increasing storage capacity in Punjab to meet the problem of plenty of paddy being procured in the state every year. This year alone, the FCI added a storage capacity of 16 lakh metric tonnes open plinths in the state.

This was revealed by FCI Senior Regional Manager D.P. Reddy while talking to The Indian Express here today before participating in a Kisan Mela organised by the Punjab Young Farmers Association.

Reddy said of the total storage capacity of 1 crore metric tonnes in Punjab, the FCI alone accounted for 72 lakh metric tonnes. Against the paddy procurement of 63 lakh tonnes last year, the government agencies were likely to procure 90 lakh tonnes of paddy in Punjab this year, the bulk of which would be procured by the FCI.

He said 40 lakh tonnes of paddy stock in Punjab was lying unmilled and this included a stock of 24 lakh tonnes procured last year. About 10 lakhtonnes of wheat and rice was being shifted out of Punjab to the rice consuming states every month to be distributed through the PDS, with a view to ease the backlog.

FCI Managing Director S.S. Dawra, who had come here to preside over the Kisan Mela, said FCI could not enter the Punjab mandis to procure the early sowing varieties of paddy, including the sathee varieties which matured within 60 days of sowing, as these yields had a higher percentage of broken rice on milling, high moisture content and the rice prepared from them had hardly any takers.

Dawra said there was a massive stock of 2.12 crore tonne of wheat lying in store, including 1.41 lakh tonnes procured during the last Rabi season. While 120 lakh tonnes was as per buffer norms, 80 to 90 lakh tonnes was in excess of the buffer norms.

The FCI Managing Director said the stocks of wheat lying in FCI godowns could not be exported as the prices of the product in the international market were much lower. He said with a view to clearing these stocks of FCI wheat, the Corporation had started open sale of wheat at a fixed price of Rs 690 per quintal. In states like Gujarat and Maharashtra, it was being sold at Rs 725 per quintal, while in the southern states, it was being sold for Rs 747 per quintal.

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Dawra discounted the apprehensions expressed by certain employee organisations of the FCI, that there was an attempt to disband FCI in a phased manner. He said there were no retrenchments and the Corporation had, on the contrary, made new recruitment.

He said the FCI still maintains that the Punjab farmers should stick to the schedule of not sowing paddy before June 15, as recommended by the Punjab government.