Focus on enhancing yield for sustained all-round development holds the key; Rice industry needs a comprehensive strategy : Infomerics
- Total
rice procurement by the government increased by more than 14 per cent
- Industry
risks include container shortage, scanty rainfall and low MSP coverage
- Reduction
of more than 14 % in the paddy households that sold their produce to the
APMC mandis
·
India
is the world's second largest producer of rice after China with production of
roughly 120 million tonnes
·
In
both kharif and rabi seasons, rice production has been seeing an increasing
trend over the years. The total production rose by almost 15 per cent from FY
14 to FY 21
·
Rice
(including basmati and non-basmati) occupy a major share (more than four-fifth)
in India's total cereals export
·
The
quality of Indian Basmati is world renowned, and India exports its basmati to
the world. It is interesting to see that almost two-third of the basmati export
is accounted for by five nations – Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Yemen Republic and
UAE
·
Increasing Cultivation Area - Telangana,
Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh constitute over 80 per cent of the total area
under paddy cultivation, which rose from 30 lakh hectares in FY 20 to 35 lakh
hectares in FY 21.
·
Rice Fortification - The government is
fortifying rice distributed under government schemes, viz., Public Distribution
System (PDS) and Mid-Day-Meal scheme by 2024. The government distributes over
300 lakh tonnes of rice under the National Food Security Act, 2013. The Centre
allocated 328 lakh tonnes of rice for Targeted Public Distribution System
(TPDS), Mid-Day-Meal (MDM) and Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) under
National Food Security Act (NFSA) in FY 22.
·
Increased Rice Procurement - Total rice
procurement rose by 14 per cent from marketing year 2019-20 (50.58 million
metric tonnes) to marketing year 2020-21 (57.82 million metric tonnes).
·
Increasing Minimum Support Price (MSP) - The MSP
almost doubled in the last decade. Recently, the government announced the MSP
at ₹1940 per quintal for ‘common paddy’ and ₹1960 for ‘Grade-A paddy’ for the
marketing year 2021-22.
Industry
Risk –
Rice
production is beset with a variety of risks. High fertilizer price, plummeting
water table, soaring agricultural input prices and asymmetric market price
information constitute risk factors. Other issues include high rent charges of
agricultural machinery, poor transportation, poor consultancy facilities and
adequacy, timeliness and cost of credit.
Diverse
setting significantly impacts seasonal concentration, spatial spread, and loss
of about 10 per cent of paddy/rice in processing, storage and transport.
Heterogeneity of rice milling mills in terms of kind, capacity location,
services and ownership make the application of any standard investment, cost
and return template difficult.
·
Container Shortage - About
25,000-30,000 containers are lying at ports because of disputes with Customs,
etc. Basmati rice exports have been hit hard because 80 per cent is routed
through containers.
·
Scanty Rains - Erratic rainfall could affect crop production. Farmers have planted
hectares of land with rice this year with fears of scarce rainfall[1]
although the Indian Meteorological Department has forecast the country will
receive normal monsoon rains in 2021.
·
Low MSP Coverage - Insufficient MSP
realization is reflected in paddy households selling their produce to the APMC
reducing from 17 per cent (2013) to 2.7 per cent (2019) because of poor
participation of private traders, low infrastructure, unawareness, etc.
Paddy/rice
production in India cannot be considered in silo; it is inextricably linked to
the broader question of land rights and land ownership, food security,
political stability, preservation of natural ecosystems and agricultural
diversification. Stringent international food quality and safety standards of
E.U., U.S., and Japan can help to enhance the quantity and quality of organic
production.
Since the Indian agriculture continues to be a gamble in monsoon, risk mitigation measures, crop insurance, price stabilization measures, stress on geographical indicators (GI) of basmati rice in India and optimum use of agro-climatic conditions can reduce the dependence on the monsoon.
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