Focus on mills now, fall in rice outcome ratio feared
The water content in the crop has gone up to 22% against the prescribed limit of 17%
CHANDIGARH: As paddy procurement in Punjab has reached its last leg, the focus is now shifting to rice mills, which are supposed to hand over rice to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) as per the prescribed outcome ratio of 67%.
Various agencies of the state government have procured 150 lakh tonne of paddy and it is expected that the total procurement would touch 180 lakh tonne within ten days.
Due to the moisture content in the paddy going up to 22% this season against the prescribed limit of 17%, the state food and civil supplies department and the shelling mills are apprehending that the rice outcome would not as per the prescribed limits and is expected to fall to as low as 62%.
As per FCI norms, the rice outcome of paddy is 670 kg per quintal (100 kg). But shelling mills apprehend that it may fall to 620 kg due to high moisture in the paddy.
Paddy has high moisture content this season as there were rains in September when the crop was at the maturing state. Farmers in the state blame the delay in paddy transplantation by five days to June 20 for high moisture in the crop. Due to fall in temperature, the harvested paddy is not drying up. “We have urged the Centre to relax rice outcome ratio norms by 3% to 5% and dry-age norms by 2%,” said Punjab food and civil supplies minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu.
There are some varieties which would suffer higher loss at
the time of shelling, he added.
“After loss to farmers due to high moisture content, it is now our turn to bear the brunt,” said Tarsem Saini, president of the state shelling mills association.
Saini said that in 2005, the rice outcome ratio was reduced to 66%, in 2004 to 64% and in 1998 dry-age levels were increased to 3% against permissible limits of 2%. He also demanded that the paddy in the current season be shelled before March 31, 2019, as due to increase in temperature in April and May, there would be breakage in the rice.
To compensate losses to shelling mills, he demanded increase in milling charges from existing Rs 10 per quintal to Rs 35. He said the most of paddy is stored in open, in covered area plinths, due to which moisture levels are not falling. Despite the demand by the state government, FCI is so far in no mood to give relaxation. “I feel it’s a normal season as moisture levels have been high in the past also,” said an FCI official.
An official in the food and civil supplies department said the FCI has also procured paddy and it could get trials on paddy shelling to know the factual position.