India to procure 485 lakh million tons rice, 19 LMT millets this Kharif season

     Raipur, August 31, 2024: Government of India has decided to procure 485 lakh million tons (LMT) of rice and 19 LMT of millets this Kharif season.

     After detailed deliberations, the estimates for paddy procurement (Kharif Crop) during ensuing Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2024-25 have been fixed at 485 LMT in terms of rice compared to procurement of 463 LMT (Kharif Crop) during KMS 2023-24, Union Food Ministry sources said. 

     To discuss arrangements for procurement of crops in ensuing Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2024-25, Secretary, Department of Food & Public Distribution (DFPD), Government of India, chaired a meeting with State Food Secretaries and Food Corporation of India (FCI) on Thursday last at New Delhi.

     Various factors impacting procurement such as weather forecast, production estimates, and readiness of States for procurement operations were reviewed during the meeting.

     A quantity of 19.00 LMT of coarse grains/millets (Shree Anna) has also been estimated for procurement by the States during the KMS 2024-25 (Kharif crop) which is a substantial increase compared to procurement of 6.60 LMT during KMS 2022-23 (Kharif crop).

     States and union territories were advised to focus on procurement of millets for diversification of crops and enhanced nutrition in dietary patterns.

     The meeting was attended by Principal Secretary/Secretary (Food) of States/UTs as well as officers from FCI, India Meteorological Department and Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare.

     Several ongoing initiatives of Department of Food and Public Distribution which inter-alia included Supply Chain Optimization of Public Distribution System, infrastructure improvement in Procurement Centers, Jan Poshan Kendras and workflow automation for release of food subsidy to the States among others were also discussed in the meeting.