STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: The State government is contemplating ensuring that FCI (Food Corporation of India) supplies Assam rice for distribution under various schemes in the state. It will let the beneficiaries of the state consume rice produced in the state besides benefiting the State government financially.
Food and Civil Supplies Minister Ranjeet Kumar Dass said, "In the current system, most of the rice that FCI supplies to the state government for distribution under various schemes come from Punjab and other states. Assam also produces an adequate quantity of paddy. FCI procures the state rice and sends it to other states. Assam farmers sold around five lakh MT of paddy to FCI last year."
Dass said, "The modus operandi is that the government will procure paddy from the state farmers, mill it and sell the rice to FCI. We will request FCI to supply the Assam rice for various schemes in the state instead of rice from Punjab and other states. For transportation, godown charge, milling etc., FCI will have to pay the State government around Rs 800 per quintal of rice. Assam gets around 1.5 lakh MT of rice per month from FCI for various schemes. If the local rice cannot meet the entire requirement, we can sell the bulk of our rice to FCI to meet the state's demand. We have already started the construction of additional mills and godowns for this purpose. As many as 468 rice mills run in the state for paddy procurement. The government has already constructed 175 of the 270 targeted subsidized mills for paddy procurement. The construction of 36 of the 110 targeted godowns for storing milled rice is also complete. It will minimize difficulties for paddy procurement from the state farmers at the MSP (Minimum Support Price).
The MSP per quintal of paddy is Rs 2,040 per quintal."
A section of MLAs suggested in the House today that since FCI procures only Ranjit and Bahadur varieties of rice from the state, the other paddy varieties produced in the state should also be on the list for procurement. They also suggested that the government provide transport facilities to let small farmers take their paddy to the procurement centres.
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