Andhra Pradesh tops in rice procurement

Kakinada,(Andhra Pradesh), Aug 8: East Godavari District tops the State in rice procurement during current season, due to end by October, by procuring 12,59,753 tonne of rice both raw and boiled varieties together, as against the target of 12,75,940 tonnes that comes to 98.3 per cent achievement, District Supply Officer K Ravikrian said.

Addressing mediapersons on Thursday, Aug 8 he said the original procurement target given to the district was only nine lakh tonnes of raw and boiled rice, which was surpassed by January itself.

Later, the target was revised four times, making it 12,75,940 tonnes comprising 9,58,150 tonnes raw rice and 3,17,790 tonnes boiled rice.

As on date, the rice procurement was 9,58,140 tonnes of raw rice and 3,01,613 tonnes of boiled rice. The DSO claimed the district stood first in the entire state while West Godavari and Krishna came next.

As against the state target of 62 lakh tonnes, comprising 42 lakh tonnes raw rice and 20 lakh tonnes boiled rice, he said East Godavari District alone procured 12.59 lakh tonnes so far, which is a record.

It is stated the ban on non-basmati rice exports had led to the present situation wherein the rice millers had opted to supply rice towards their levy, fulfilling the rice procurement target.

UNI