The Union Food Ministry has set a target to procure 521 lakh tonnes of rice in this kharif season.
The decision was taken at a meeting the Centre had with State food secretaries here on Tuesday.
The meeting also decided to complete the third phase of universalisation of distribution of fortified rice ahead of its earlier target of March 2024.
More sugar to be released
The Ministry also will release additional quota of two lakh tonnes of sugar, over and above the 23.5 lakh tonnes already allocated for August, in view of the “strong demand” for upcoming festivals of Onam, Raksha Bandhan and Krishna Janamashtami. “The additional sugar in domestic market will ensure reasonable prices all over the country,” the Union Food Ministry said in a release.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Union Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra said the target for rice procurement was decided after discussions with all States.
He said the Ministry is on track to achieve the target of 100% distribution of fortified rice across all rice-consuming districts in the country. He said the third phase of the programme is in progress and the entire public distribution system will be covered with fortified rice. “We will be universalising the scheme within some months,” he said and added that of the 250 lakh tonnes with the Food Corporation of India, only 12 lakh tonnes was non-fortified rice.
Allays health concerns
The Ministry also organised a one-day national seminar on the efficacy of rice fortification. He said the scheme is an evidence-based programme and fortified rice is totally safe even for those suffering from thalassemia and sickle cell anaemia. It will not cause any toxicity. He said five kilograms of fortified rice will be supplied per person per month, which is 160 grams of fortified rice per day containing 7 mg of iron.
Mr. Chopra said the Centre is committed to ensuring the nutritional security of the country through fortified rice distribution across government food safety net schemes. The seminar saw presentations and discussions by various stakeholders, technical experts from institutions and academia. Different aspects of rice fortification programme such as evidence, safety of consumption, operational challenges and quality assurance as well as quality control were discussed during the seminar. “The prevailing challenges and queries of States were addressed by the group of experts and deliberations were made to derive a roadmap to the programme for the coming year,” a government release said.
