Clock is Ticking for
2018 Farm Bill
WASHINGTON, DC -- The House and
Senate Farm Bill Conference Committee held its first official meeting Wednesday morning
where the 56 conferees, nine Senators and 47 House Members, comprising the
committee made brief statements on legislative provisions and issues they
support or oppose in the two chambers' bills.
Although the leaders of the Senate and House Agriculture Committees met several times throughout August to reconcile differences between the two versions of the Farm Bill before the current law expires on September 30, the most contentious differences still remain, particularly in the commodity, conservation, and nutrition titles.
One outstanding issue is a harmful provision included in the Senate version aimed at further restricting access to the farm safety net.
"In both chambers, we've crafted policies not to make the good times better, but to make the tough times bearable. But, we are not without our differences," said Senator John Boozman (R-AR) to his fellow conference committee members. "I'm deeply concerned that the actively engaged eligibility provisions included in the Senate bill will only exacerbate the pain being felt throughout rural America by arbitrarily excluding some farmers from Title I programs. This is often characterized as a regional difference, but let me be clear, this provision does not discriminate against regions, it discriminates against farmers and those who feed and clothe this nation."
"The proposed changes to the actively engaged rule for commodity program eligibility would be devastating to the program's intent to provide a modest safety net for farmers during times of declined prices, and market and trade uncertainty," said Joe Mencer, Arkansas rice farmer and chair of USA Rice Farmers.
During Wednesday's meeting, Congressman Ralph Abraham (R-LA) highlighted a provision in the House version that is a priority of USA Rice, allowing for the expansion of the family definition for commodity program eligibility to more accurately reflect modern day family farm management structures. Abraham said, "A sudden death in the family can unravel a family farm that's been running for generations. We can fix this with the bill and preserve the family farm, a vital part of the fabric of rural America, and I support including nieces, nephews, and first cousins in the definition of 'actively engaged.'"
Collective sentiment among legislators revolves around the need for the 2018 Farm Bill to be passed on time. Just 10 legislative days remain with the House and Senate both in session before September 30, leaving Congress little time to forward the bill to the President's desk to be signed into law.
"USA Rice is thankful to have great advocates in Washington working to pass a farm bill with positive farm, conservation, trade, and food aid provisions for the U.S. rice industry," said Charley Mathews, Jr., California rice farmer and chairman of USA Rice. "With yet another declining net farm income forecast for 2018, a reliable safety net and other critical farm bill programs will be essential to ensuring rice farmers and our industry can weather the storm."
Although the leaders of the Senate and House Agriculture Committees met several times throughout August to reconcile differences between the two versions of the Farm Bill before the current law expires on September 30, the most contentious differences still remain, particularly in the commodity, conservation, and nutrition titles.
One outstanding issue is a harmful provision included in the Senate version aimed at further restricting access to the farm safety net.
"In both chambers, we've crafted policies not to make the good times better, but to make the tough times bearable. But, we are not without our differences," said Senator John Boozman (R-AR) to his fellow conference committee members. "I'm deeply concerned that the actively engaged eligibility provisions included in the Senate bill will only exacerbate the pain being felt throughout rural America by arbitrarily excluding some farmers from Title I programs. This is often characterized as a regional difference, but let me be clear, this provision does not discriminate against regions, it discriminates against farmers and those who feed and clothe this nation."
"The proposed changes to the actively engaged rule for commodity program eligibility would be devastating to the program's intent to provide a modest safety net for farmers during times of declined prices, and market and trade uncertainty," said Joe Mencer, Arkansas rice farmer and chair of USA Rice Farmers.
During Wednesday's meeting, Congressman Ralph Abraham (R-LA) highlighted a provision in the House version that is a priority of USA Rice, allowing for the expansion of the family definition for commodity program eligibility to more accurately reflect modern day family farm management structures. Abraham said, "A sudden death in the family can unravel a family farm that's been running for generations. We can fix this with the bill and preserve the family farm, a vital part of the fabric of rural America, and I support including nieces, nephews, and first cousins in the definition of 'actively engaged.'"
Collective sentiment among legislators revolves around the need for the 2018 Farm Bill to be passed on time. Just 10 legislative days remain with the House and Senate both in session before September 30, leaving Congress little time to forward the bill to the President's desk to be signed into law.
"USA Rice is thankful to have great advocates in Washington working to pass a farm bill with positive farm, conservation, trade, and food aid provisions for the U.S. rice industry," said Charley Mathews, Jr., California rice farmer and chairman of USA Rice. "With yet another declining net farm income forecast for 2018, a reliable safety net and other critical farm bill programs will be essential to ensuring rice farmers and our industry can weather the storm."
USA Rice
Rice Gene-Editing Research Cited as
Among World-Changing Science
Sep. 07, 2018
Photo by Fred Miller
Vibha Srivastava is experimenting with gene editing as a tool
that may one day assist conventional rice breeders develop improved varieties.
FAYETTEVILLE,
Ark. — Research published by a University of Arkansas System Division of
Agriculture scientist has been recognized by an international publisher for its
high-impact potential.
Vibha
Srivastava, professor of crop, soil and environmental sciences for the Division
of Agriculture, has been experimenting with gene editing, a technique that
induces mutations in plants. Her goal is to develop technologies that will one
day assist rice breeders develop advanced rice varieties for Arkansas growers.
Division
rice breeders develop improved varieties to help farmers keep ahead of nature's
tendency to change growing conditions.
These
conditions include plant diseases that mutate to overcome resistance and
insects that eventually adapt to defeat a plant's natural defenses.
Environmental changes can include climate changes that affect air temperature
or water availability, or the invasion of new weeds or insects.
Conventional
breeding requires scientists to cross many generations of plants in order to
move useful mutations that occur in nature from wild cousins of rice into
breeding lines that may lead to new cultivated rice varieties. The process can
take decades to accomplish.
Gene
editing can speed up the process, Srivastava said.
Srivastava
emphasizes that gene editing is not the same as genetic modification, in which
genetic code from one organism is inserted into another organism.
"A
plant's genetic traits are developed through mutations that occur naturally in
response to environmental stresses," Srivastava said.
Those
mutations could be viewed as naturally occurring gene editing that results in
new information being stored in the plants' genes. As a tool for plant
breeders, Srivastava said, gene editing provides a way to copy and paste that
information from rice plants' wild or distant cousins into available breeding
stock.
"We
use the information from the wild plant to try to induce the same mutation in
breeding stock," Srivastava said.
To
accomplish this, Srivastava is adapting a technology called
"CRISPR/Cas9." CRISPR is scientific shorthand for "clustered regularly
interspaced short palindromic repeats." These are segments of DNA that
contain short, repetitive base sequences.
Cas9
stands for CRISPR associated protein 9, a type of protein that can be guided by
CRISPR to induce cuts or double-stranded breaks in DNA. Srivastava said the cut
is repaired by the cell through an error-prone process that using mutations.
"There
are two techniques for gene editing," Srivastava said. "Point
mutations attempt to induce a mutation in a single gene and defined deletions
attempt to excise a larger chromosome section."
Srivastava
was attempting to delete a chromosome section by inducing cuts at two different
points that mark the beginning and end of the section she wanted to remove.
Removing
genetic code might seem an unlikely goal, but Srivastava said it has the
potential to eliminate a yield- or quality-limiting plant characteristic. One
such gene segment, she said, controls rice grain quality. When it is activated,
by high nighttime temperatures, it causes a decline in quality.
Deleting
that set of genetic instructions could help improve rice grain quality in the
face of a common climate problem for Arkansas rice growers.
"What
we found out," Srivastava said, "is that creating deletions is
extremely difficult."
Srivastava
had hoped that mutating the two points that defined the target gene section
would result in the section being deleted. But what she found was that it
simply mutated those two points and left the intervening section intact.
Research
may not always take you where you expected, Srivastava said, but it advances
knowledge that can help design a new experiment or even lead to unexpected
discovery.
With
accidental discovery in mind, Srivastava and research technician Shan Zhao are
growing the gene edited plants in a greenhouse to maturity so they can evaluate
whether any advantageous traits have been induced.
No gene
edited plants leave the greenhouse or her lab, Srivastava said. Gene editing is
still experimental and is not used in Division of Agriculture plant breeding
programs.
Srivastava
learned that colleagues in other research institutions were conducting similar
experiments and encountering the same difficulties. "But no one was
reporting it," she said.
Some
scientists may be reluctant to report when their experiments don't succeed in
accomplishing their intended goals. But Srivastava believes the knowledge
gained is valuable, even if only to point ongoing research in new directions.
It is
said that Thomas Edison said of repeated failures in his lab that he learned
1,000 ways not to make a lightbulb. The story may be apocryphal, but the point
is valid in Srivastava's view.
And
Springer Nature, publisher of many peer-reviewed scientific journals, seems to
agree. The publisher chose Srivastava's research paper on her attempts to
delete chromosome sections, to feature in their online "Change the World —
One article at a time" section.
Springer
Nature selects stand-out research articles from its research journals in
various scientific disciplines. The high-impact papers are nominated by the
publications' editors'-in-chief and submitted to the publishers.
Srivastava's
article, titled "Dual-targeting by CRISPER/Cas9 for precise excision of
transgenes from rice genome," was originally published in Plant
Cell Tissue and Organ Culture: Journal of Plant Biotechnology.The journal's
editor-in-chief nominated it for inclusion in "Change the World."
This
recognition gives Srivastava's research article free access, making it
available to a wider audience of researchers, including those who may be trying
to blaze a similar trail in plant biotechnology.
About
the Division of Agriculture: The University of
Arkansas System Division of Agriculture's mission is to strengthen agriculture,
communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of
best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative
Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension
work within the nation's historic land grant education system.
The
Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas
System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on five
system campuses.
The
University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension
and Research programs to all eligible persons without regard to race, color,
sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age,
disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other
legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity
Employer.
About
Springer Nature: Springer Nature is a global publisher that
advances discovery by publishing robust and insightful research, supporting the
development of new areas of knowledge, making ideas and information accessible
around the world, and leading the way on open access.
Cajun Country Rice, local stores helping out the food
bank
Throughout September,
for every purchase of a five-pound bag of Cajun Country Rice (medium- or
long-grain), Falcon Rice will donate an additional half-pound of
Cajun Country Rice to Second Harvest. Shoppers may also choose to donate the
five-pound bag of rice at their grocery store for later pickup by Second
Harvest to help reach our goal of 40,000 pounds.
“We’re thrilled to
partner with Falcon Rice, producer of the Cajun Country Rice brand, for this
promotion at Walmart, Rouses, Kroger, and Super 1 Foods locations throughout
South Louisiana,” said Second Harvest Food Sourcing Specialist Natasha Curley.
“Rice is such a perfect food to donate as it provides nutrition and meal
flexibility for the thousands of families we serve every month, and our
locally-grown rice is some of the best in the world.”
Falcon Rice, located in
Crowley, is a regular donor to Second Harvest’s mission to fight hunger.
“We just want to be
here for the community, and we have a product that stretches so far when you’re
talking about feeding families,” said Robert Trahan, Director of Sales and
Business Development at Falcon Rice. “We’re proud to support what Second
Harvest does for Acadiana and all of South Louisiana.”
Visit
www.no-hunger.org/rice for more information.
Cutting almost complete,
yields good in rice varieties
·
Print
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rice harvest
Rice harvests in a four county area
including Wharton, Matagorda, Jackson and Colorado counties are wrapping
up along with the rest of the Gulf Coast with near-record yields of good
quality grain with many producers considering a second harvest. Ratoon cropping
early planted fields might improve net profits, according to Lee Tarpley,
AgriLife Research crop physiologist, not pictured. Later- planted fields could
be ratoon cropped if temperatures remain above 50 degrees into early
November. “If it stays warm they could see another harvest with less
input costs, and that could mean a better bottom line,” Tarpley said.
L-N
Photo by Melony Overton
The rice
harvest is winding down along the Gulf Coast and producers are almost done in
El Campo with many considering a second harvest.
Dick Ottis, president and chief
executive officer for Rice Belt Warehouse, Inc., with locations in El Campo,
Ganado, Bay City, Edna and Blessing, said the harvest in El Campo is 95 percent
complete.
Facilities can run 18 to 24 hours a day to dry rice.
“Company wide, we are 80 percent complete with the harvest. Some
locations are more complete than others,” Ottis said. “We have other areas that
aren’t that far along (as El Campo).”
The Bay City facility, for example, takes in many hundred weights
of organic rice that is a growing trend among producers in Wharton, Matagorda,
Jackson and Colorado counties.
“That rice is usually a little later in maturing. That sets their
harvest back later,” Ottis said.
The majority of the organic rice the Bay City warehouse receives
comes from upper Wharton County and Colorado County, Ottis said.
“It started very slow, but it has picked up to where I assume we
probably have 13,000 to 14,000 acres of rice in these four counties that is
organically grown.”
For the most part, producers have seen a “very good yield for the
different rices we dry,” regarding conventional and hybrid rice, Ottis said.
According to Lee Tarpley, an AgriLife Research crop physiologist,
a near record yield is expected for producers who planted their fields early in
spring avoiding heavy spring rains that caused delays for other growers. Late
planted rice was exposed to hot spells and heat damage, Tarpley said in a Texas
A&M University crop and weather report.
M.O. Way, AgriLife Research entomologist, said in the same report
that about 190,000 acres of rice were planted this season statewide with half
the acreage planted in hybrid varieties.
Ottis has witnessed that other growing trend in the four-county
area, too.
“I think we’ve seen more hybrid rice grown in our local area this
year than in all years past. We’re probably growing 75 to 80 percent hybrid and
the rest is conventional varieties,” he said.
The reason for more hybrid rice grown over the conventional
varieties could be because conventional rice yields less with the first crop
when compared to hybrids, Ottis said.
According to the Texas Rice Crop Survey conducted by Texas
A&M, the rice acreage for the 2018 crop season in Wharton County is 38,602
up 7.6 percent from 2017’s 35,892 acres of rice. The U.S. Department of
Agriculture 2018 crop acreage report also shows an additional 3,871 acres of
rice intended for seed this year.
Way said good growing conditions have many farmers considering
growing a ratoon crop, or allow another crop to grow from the stubble left
after the harvest.
Ratoon cropping could produce an additional 35-50 percent of the
main harvest, with little input costs beyond fertilization and water, Way said.
About 60 percent of Texas rice acres are ratoon cropped typically.
“In rice, we actually have two crops for conventional and
hybrids,” Ottis said. “We have that first crop that is cut in July and August.
Then we have the ratoon or second crop that is harvested in late October and
end of November. We may go a lot longer if there is a lot of it, you just never
know.”
Posted at:
Sep 8, 2018, 1:22 AM; last updated: Sep 8, 2018, 1:22 AM (IST)
Rice millers to
boycott paddy storage over milling policy
Say state has imposed
unrealistic conditions on the industry
2
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Tribune News Service
Sangrur, September 7
Rice millers from across the state after a
state-level meeting here on Friday announced to boycott storage of paddy in
their mills from the forthcoming season if the state government fails to make
required changes in the custom milling policy.
Around 1,200 millers alleged that the state
government had imposed unrealistic conditions on the rice industry.
“In the new policy released last month, the government has imposed
numerous conditions and no one can fulfil all. If required changes are not made
in the policy, it will ruin the rice milling industry,” said Rajnish Kansal,
state media incharge of the Rice Millers Association, Punjab.
The main demands of the millers included
abolition of five per cent bank guarantee, end of interest over from miller
over quality cut, government should take 67-kg rice from 99-kg paddy and one
per cent dry benefit should go to miller, advance payment of user charges to
miller to help miller maintain purchase and end of undertaking for levy
security 350.
“A majority of rice millers are under huge debt
due to the wrong policies of the state government. The new policy will only add
to their woes,” said Kansal.
Punjab president Gian Chand Bhardwaj attended
the meeting.
“The Congress has always supported the rice
industry of the state. We will take required steps to redress their
grievances,” said Cabinet Minister Vijay Inder Singla, who called the millers
to his residence in Sangrur for discussion.
600 containers of Pakistani
rice stuck at Kenyan ports
Published: September 8, 2018
LAHORE: Almost 600
containers of Pakistani rice have been stopped at Kenyan ports by the customs
authority, said Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) Chairman
Sameeullah Chaudhry.
The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) and
Customs were examining the containers for security check and verification,
which Chaudhry said was unfair considering that the certificates of conformity
were in order. He lamented that despite having necessary approvals and a clean
bill of health from the agencies recommended by KEBS, the containers were being
inspected to check compliance with phytosanitary standards and their physical
characteristics.
The delay in clearance of containers is
resulting in heavy demurrage costs and increase in landing cost of Pakistani
rice each day.
As per rules, rice is not allowed to enter
Kenya based on 2-5% higher broken quantity. “It is a matter of great concern
because in agriculture commodity 2% is considered insignificant variation,” he
added. “This has jeopardised our rice exports. We want a level playing field.”
Despite the intervention of the Pakistan
High Commission and commercial counsellor to resolve the crisis, the Kenyan
inspection team was not cooperating, he pointed out.
The REAP chairman suggested that reciprocal
steps may be taken in the case of Kenyan products destined to the Pakistani
market.
“Our consumer health and protection is
equally important and we must take reciprocal measures to protect our consumers
from any inferior quality of Kenyan products being imported into Pakistan,” he
said.
He warned that if the matter was not
tackled, Pakistan risked losing its share of rice exports – 475,000 tons or 12%
of total exports, which would enhance the country’s trade deficit and
imbalance.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 8th,
2018.
Rice
Prices
as on : 07-09-2018
12:18:14 PM
Arrivals
in tonnes;prices in Rs/quintal in domestic market.
Arrivals
|
Price
|
|||||
Current
|
%
change |
Season
cumulative |
Modal
|
Prev.
Modal |
Prev.Yr
%change |
|
Rice
|
||||||
Ghaziabad(UP)
|
100.00
|
100
|
3990.00
|
2725
|
2725
|
13.54
|
Barhaj(UP)
|
60.00
|
NC
|
734.00
|
2240
|
2230
|
-
|
Indus(Bankura Sadar)(WB)
|
60.00
|
-7.69
|
3515.00
|
2750
|
2750
|
7.84
|
Cachar(ASM)
|
40.00
|
-33.33
|
3920.00
|
2400
|
2400
|
9.09
|
Jayas(UP)
|
31.00
|
10.71
|
1964.50
|
2000
|
2000
|
2.56
|
Kolaghat(WB)
|
18.00
|
5.88
|
452.00
|
2860
|
2860
|
24.35
|
Tamluk (Medinipur E)(WB)
|
18.00
|
NC
|
403.00
|
2860
|
2870
|
24.35
|
Sahiyapur(UP)
|
16.00
|
-33.33
|
2433.00
|
2165
|
2160
|
-
|
Vilthararoad(UP)
|
10.00
|
NC
|
650.00
|
2190
|
2180
|
1.86
|
Paliakala(UP)
|
8.00
|
-11.11
|
1052.60
|
2270
|
2275
|
-
|
Chitwadagaon(UP)
|
6.00
|
20
|
260.20
|
2100
|
2050
|
-1.41
|
Ruperdeeha(UP)
|
6.00
|
NC
|
71.00
|
1800
|
1800
|
-
|
Chhibramau(Kannuj)(UP)
|
4.00
|
NC
|
422.50
|
2300
|
2300
|
2.68
|
Mirzapur(UP)
|
3.50
|
40
|
752.50
|
2220
|
2225
|
-
|
Dibrugarh(ASM)
|
2.00
|
-60.78
|
635.90
|
2920
|
2920
|
29.78
|
Balarampur(WB)
|
1.80
|
1.12
|
72.12
|
2640
|
2660
|
12.34
|
Achnera(UP)
|
0.60
|
NC
|
9.20
|
2560
|
2510
|
0.39
|
Published on September
07, 2018
U.S. rice
farmers losing market share in Mexico, Latin America
The numbers behind
the monthly WASDE projections point to some troubling signs for the U.S. rice
industry.
U.S. rice exports are expected to increase 13 percent in the
2018-19 marketing year, according to the USDA Economic Research Service’s World
Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates or WASDE report.
Normally that would be good news for U.S. producers, who would
benefit from the increased sales. But, this time, the numbers behind the
monthly WASDE projections point to some troubling signs for the U.S. rice industry.
U.S. rice prices continue to be significantly higher than its
competitors, says Dr. Nathan Childs, senior rice economist for the USDA-ERS,
and a speaker for a recent University of Arkansas System Division of
Agriculture Food and Agribusiness Webinar. As a result, U.S. prices will have
to come down to make that prediction a reality.
Another factor: the U.S. is continuing to lose market share in
Latin America, a region that used to be a “99 percent” American market,
according to Childs, whose presentation was titled “U.S. rice growers projected
to face higher ending stocks and lower prices in 2018-19.” (See video at https://bit.ly/2E2BEla)
“I brought this up earlier, and I’m going to bring it up again,”
he said. “South American exporters continue to gain market share in Mexico,
which has been the largest quantity market for U.S. rice. There’s no other
market that buys as much quantity.”
Mexico is a strong market, purchasing 900,000 metric tons of
rice in 2017, he said. “That’s a lot of rice. The U.S. was probably once 99
percent or a rock solid 95. We’re probably not even at 80 percent of that
market now.”
Exports to Mexico
Childs displayed a graphic of the last eight years of U.S.
exports to Mexico that showed shipments falling off a cliff to less than
300,000 tons.
“This is calendar year and only through May,” he said quickly.
“Exports haven’t dropped off for the whole year. Look at the proportion. One
can see the U.S. is the dominant supplier, but not to the degree it was maybe
eight or nine years ago. That’s the largest U.S. market.”
Latin America currently accounts for about 60 percent of U.S.
rice exports, taking slightly more than 4 million metric tons in 2016-17. U.S.
shipments to the region were just approaching 3 million metric tons in June
with one more month to go in the 2017-18 marketing year.
“It will be lower, but not this much lower, he said, referencing
another slide. “But you can see how Mexico, and then the rest of Latin America
are important to the U.S. rice industry. A lot of that is rough rice; way over
half.
This slide is just long-grain,” he noted. “Latin America is
about 80 percent of U.S. long-grain exports. So let’s say it’s even more
important for the southern Rice Belt. California doesn’t ship much to Latin
America. But for the South, Latin America is critical.”
Costa Rica
Costa Rica is nowhere near as large as Mexico, but is “a rock
solid market,” purchasing well over 100,000 tons a year.
“You can see that the U.S. was absolutely dominant; Costa Rica
bought just a little bit of rice from South America,” he said. “Now the U.S. is
still the largest supplier, supplying more than half, but not dominant.”
Childs says the increased competition from South American
exporters to Mexico, Central America and Venezuela has to be a key concern for
the U.S. rice industry in the 2018-19 marketing year.
“These are key U.S. long-grain rough rice markets where the U.S.
share has been declining for several years,” he said. “And, in many of those
markets — most of those markets — the U.S. still is a big supplier to Mexico,
much of Central America.
“Will Asian exporters ship milled rice into South America,
Central America and Mexico?” he asked. “They had been shipping some. They
backed off. But they’re a possibility.”
Iraq
Other question marks include Iraq, where the U.S. sold 30,000
metric tons in August. Last year, they sold 90,000 metric tons.
“Will the U.S. pick up any medium-grain sales to North Africa
and the Middle East?” he asked.
With Australia’s crop reduced and Egypt’s falling crop
prospects, analysts believe the latter could purchase around 400,000 tons. “So
will Egypt buy U.S. rice? And what type and class of rice?”
Increased U.S. rice acreage and increased production this
harvest are expected to result in U.S. long-grain ending stocks rising by 31
percent for the 2018-19 marketing year, says Childs.
“Prices are expected to go down for all
classes of rice,” he said. “That will pull the all rice price down. We expect
more supplies. and to move the rice, prices have to be more competitive.”
https://www.deltafarmpress.com/rice/us-rice-farmers-losing-market-share-mexico-latin-america
Government procures 38 mn
tonnes rice so far in 2017-18; exceeds target
PTI|Sep 07, 2018, 01.43 PM IST
The Centre's rice procurement has surpassed
the target at 38 million tonnes so far in the ongoing 2017-18 marketing year
that will end this month, a senior food ministry official said Friday.
The rice procurement target set for this year was 37.5 million tonnes.
The government had procured 34.35 million tonnes during the last marketing year (October-September), surpassing the target of 33 million tonnes set for that year.
"Rice procurement is coming to closure this month. So far, we have procured 38 million tonnes. We have purchased more than the target set for this year," the official told PTI.
Much of the rice was purchased from states like Punjab, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.
Over 33 per cent of the country's total rice production has been procured at the MSP.
The paddy is procured at the minimum support price (MSP). State-run Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state agencies have undertaken procurement operation.
For the current year, the government has fixed paddy MSP of 'common' grade variety at Rs 1,550 per quintal, while that of 'A' grade variety at Rs 1,590 per quintal.
The country is estimated to have harvested a record 112.91 million tonnes of rice in 2017-18, as against 109.70 million tonnes last year, as per the official data.
The rice procurement target set for this year was 37.5 million tonnes.
The government had procured 34.35 million tonnes during the last marketing year (October-September), surpassing the target of 33 million tonnes set for that year.
"Rice procurement is coming to closure this month. So far, we have procured 38 million tonnes. We have purchased more than the target set for this year," the official told PTI.
Much of the rice was purchased from states like Punjab, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.
Over 33 per cent of the country's total rice production has been procured at the MSP.
The paddy is procured at the minimum support price (MSP). State-run Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state agencies have undertaken procurement operation.
For the current year, the government has fixed paddy MSP of 'common' grade variety at Rs 1,550 per quintal, while that of 'A' grade variety at Rs 1,590 per quintal.
The country is estimated to have harvested a record 112.91 million tonnes of rice in 2017-18, as against 109.70 million tonnes last year, as per the official data.
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