Rice procurement may dip marginally to 281 lakh tonnes this yr

New Delhi, Dec 28 (PTI) Bolstered by a record riceproduction in the Kharif season, the Centre has projected toexceed the procurement target by six lakh tonnes at 282 lakhtonnes during the 2008-09 season. "We estimate to procure not less than 282 lakh tonnes ofrice in 2008-09 season," a senior government official said. The government has set a target of 276 lakh tonnes forthe 2008-09 marketing season, which runs from October toSeptember.However, the estimated procurement is less than thelast year' & chr(39) & 's purchase of 284.93 lakh tonnes. According to the government' & chr(39) & 's first advance estimate forKharif 2008-09, rice production is projected at record 83.26million tonnes. India produced a record 96.43 million tonnesin the entire 2007-08 season. The procurement from Punjab is likely to touch 85 lakhtonnes, the highest among states, the official said. Andhra Pradesh is likely to contribute 55 lakh tonnes tothe central pool, while the procurement is estimated at 32lakh tonnes in Uttar Pradesh, 24 lakh tonnes in Chhattisgarh,27 lakh in Orissa, 16 lakh in West Bengal and 13 lakh tonnesin Haryana. The purchase of rice for the central pool has alreadyreached 143.27 lakh tonnes as on December 24 against 118.09lakh tonnes in the year-ago period. In order to boost procurement, the Centre has announced abonus of Rs 50 a quintal on paddy, which is over and above theminimum support prices of Rs 850 a quintal for the commonvariety and Rs 880 a quintal for the grade A variety. Meanwhile, rice procurement in Punjab and Haryana hasnearly completed with very little arrival of paddy in themandis. But the purchases are in full swing in Andhra Pradesh,Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa. PTI