Naveen Patnaik

Bhubaneswar, May 21: A strange situation has emerged in Odisha. Overproduction of rice has brought miseries to farmers as well as to the state.

Lack of adequate storage facilities has led to wastage of rice in a big way, threatening to adversely affect the ongoing procurement of paddy from farmers for the rabi season.

Worried over the situation, chief minister Naveen Patnaik today wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him to initiate steps to evacuate the surplus rice stock from the state and deliver it to the consuming states.

Seeking Singh’s intervention, Naveen said: “Steps should be taken to evacuate at least Rs 1 lakh metric tonne of rice from Odisha every month so that the paddy, which state agencies have procured and is lying with the millers, can be milled and the rice can be received by the Food Corporation of India.”

Drawing Singh’s attention to the precarious situation being faced by the state, Naveen said unless rice is moved out of Odisha immediately, the state will not be in a position to ensure procurement during the ongoing rabi procurement season.

Odisha is a rice surplus state and the extra surplus rice is to be delivered to Food Corporation of India (FCI), which, in turn, has to evacuate it to consuming states. In the last kharif marketing season (KMS- 2010-11), Odisha procured 24.98 lakh metric tonne (MT) of rice but the state consumed about 20 lakh MT rice under public distribution system from the decentralised procurement stock. Odisha has introduced decentralised procurement stock since 2003 –04 and under the scheme procures the paddy, milling it and distributing it under the public distribution system.

“There was a surplus of about 2.5 lakh MT of rice in 2010-11 against which FCI moved about 1 lakh MT of rice to outside consuming states,” Naveen said.

The state has so far procured about 21.61 lakh MT of rice in the current kharif marketing season till April 30 last.

“The godowns have been filled with either paddy or rice leaving little scope for any further procurement,” Naveen said.

He also informed the Prime Minister that despite the request the FCI has not moved a single grain from the state in months of April and May 2012.