Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday wrote to Union Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister Piyush Goyal for evacuation of surplus rice from Odisha.
Patnaik stated that during this Kharif season, a record 14,94,320 farmers have sold paddy to the Government at MSP. The paddy procurement for Kharif season (KMS 2022-23) is going to be closed by March 31. About 65.23 LMT of paddy equivalent to 44.23 LMT Kharif CMR has been procured as on March 22.
In the ensuing Rabi (2022-23), it is expected that about 10 lakh MT of CMR would be procured in the State. Thus, total 54 lakh MT CMR is likely to be procured during 2022-23. Odisha’s own consumption would be 24 lakh MT of rice under NFSA, SFSS and other welfare schemes.
So, the State would be left with approximately 20 lakh MT of surplus rice. Non-evacuation of above quantity of surplus rice from the State would severely affect the State’s paddy procurement operations in the coming seasons as well as it would adversely impact the livelihood of lakhs of famers, Patnaik stated.
