State Decides To Permit Export Of Boiled Rice.

The state government has decided to permit the export of boiled rice outside the state without any conditions and has also decided to allow the export of raw rice during May and June with periodic monitoring of the price situation.

This new development is likely to silence the millers who had been cribbing that they are unable to pay the Minimum Support Price to farmers.

As the market has opened up, they can’t claim that rice has no takers. “The farmers could have benefited more had the government taken the decision in April when the paddy produce had started arriving in the market. When the market is open, millers compete among themselves to procure paddy and offer farmers more than the MSP,” said an official of the Food Corporation of India.

The Chief Minister, Mr N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, on Wednesday decided to permit export of rice at a review meeting on Rabi procurement. The Chief Minister has asked the officials of all departments concerned to ensure that the farmers get the MSP for their produce and no one is allowed to take advantage of the market situation.

As far as raw rice is concerned, there will a review every 15 days to see the effects of permitting export of raw rice.

The officials told the CM that the total production of rice during the year 2010-11, Rabi and Kharif put together, is expected to be 140.65 lakh MTs, which is an increase of 32.27 lakh MTs over 2009-10. About 1,10,620 MT of paddy was purchased from 1,187 purchase centres across the state.

The Chief Minister also wanted the Railways to allot more rakes to the FCI for Andhra Pradesh in May and June for the movement of rice. Rakes should be provided for movement of at least 5 LMTs of rice per month.

Source : deccanchronicle.com