In one go, state procures rice for ration, mid-day meal for 1 year

Kolkata: The state government has already purchased enough paddy to last for the entire year that includes the required amount of paddy to supply rice for ration for the next one year.

The requisite rice required for Anganwadi Centres and for the government's 'Mid-Day Meal' scheme for the entire year will be arranged by the end of this month.

According to a senior official in the state Food and Supplies department, the Bengal government has already procured more-than-enough paddy from farmers during the current Kharif season, with the total target for paddy requirement from November 2021 to February 2022 being around 32 lakh tonnes.

A little over 42 lakh tonnes of rice is required annually for the mid-day meal scheme and Anganwadi Centres, while around 27 lakh tonnes of rice is needed annually for ration consumers.

According to the food department, till March 5, about 3.7 million tonnes of paddy has been procured by the state government. It is also set to buy another 42 lakh tonnes of paddy by this month for Anganwadi Centres and for its Mid-Day Meal Scheme.

The state government has also increased the target of paddy procurement during the Kharif season.

While the earlier figure was 46 lakh tonnes, a little over 49 lakh tonnes of paddy is expected to be procured by September.

In order to ensure that small and marginal farmers are not forced to sell their produce at lower prices, the state government had laid special emphasis on paddy procurement from December to March. Statistics show that the state government has succeeded in this regard.

The food department hopes of ironing out all issues in the procurement of 49 lakh tonnes of paddy this season, with the state government requesting the Centre-run Food Corporation of India to buy 6 lakh tonnes of paddy from the state government this time too.