Odisha urges Centre to expedite rice evacuation amid record paddy stockpile

By Bijoy Pradhan

The record procurement of 73.5 lakh tonne paddy during the kharif season has posed a problem of plenty for the state forcing the government to send an SOS to the Centre to evacuate more custom-milled rice from Odisha to the central pool.

While the storage capacity of rice millers, registered with the Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation (OSCSC) for milling and delivery of custom-milled rice (CMR) to the state government and Food Corporation of India (FCI), is full to the brim, procurement of rabi paddy from May 15 has added to the woes.

Sitting over a stockpile of over 48.5 lakh tonne of paddy (equivalent of 33 lakh tonne rice) after delivery of 16.25 lakh tonne of CMR rice to the state and FCI, the All Odisha Rice Millers Association (AORMA) has taken up the matter with the Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare (FS&CW) department to put pressure on FCI to speed up evacuation of rice.

Even as FCI has fixed a target to lift 1.7 lakh tonne of CMR rice from the state every month, the central public sector undertaking is evacuating far less due to shortage of storage space in its godowns. The central agency has received 7.76 lakh tonne of CMR rice for kharif 2024-25 season from the state as on May 7, 2025, against the target of 10.20 lakh tonne, sources said.

The state government has procured 73.5 lakh tonne during the current marketing season which will be equivalent to 49.6 lakh tonne rice. The annual consumption of Odisha under national and state food security programmes and supplementary nutrition programme is around 23 lakh tonne, leaving a surplus of 26 lakh tonne. Moreover, the state is expected to procure 10 lakh tonne rice during the ongoing rabi procurement taking the total surplus to 36 lakh tonne. 

“FCI generally prefers Grade-A rice over the common variety (mostly boiled rice) produced in more quantity in Odisha. Production of Grade-A variety rice is limited to a few districts like Ganjam, Rayagada, Balangir and Koraput.

While it is not clear about the quantum of rice that FCI will lift from the state to the central pool this year, slow evacuation from its depots has become a matter of concern. The issue was discussed at the inter-ministerial review meeting on rabi paddy procurement on May 2. The meeting was informed that non-availability of rakes from the Railways has posed a big problem for FCI, which has affected lifting of rice and transportation.

“We have discussed the matter with the FCI which has agreed to increase the monthly CMR quota from 1.7 lakh tonne to 2.20 lakh tonne. Besides, the corporation has asked for more boiled rice from the state,” said FS&CW department principal secretary Sanjay Singh.

This article has been republished from The New Indian Express.