Bhubaneswar, Jan 19: In response to a proposal of Union Education, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the Union Ministry of Food and Consumer Affairs expeditiously sanctioned the procurement of 10 lakh more metric tonnes of rice from Odisha during the current Kharif procurement season. 

The Food Corporation of India (FCI) will procure the extra rice. Over a lakh of farmers of Odisha will benefit due to the expeditious steps taken by the Union Government. 

Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Piyush Goyal informed this in response to the letter of Union Minister Pradhan. 
Notably, Union Minister Pradhan had on January 16 written to his Union Cabinet colleague in this regard on January 16. In his letter, Pradhan apprised Goyal that 79 lakh metric tonne is set to be procured from Odisha this Kharif season because of good crops. As per a primary estimation, the Union Government has targeted to procure 44.28 lakh metric tonne from Odisha. 

However, a sufficient amount of parboiled rice may be left over after procurements made for NFSA, SFSA, and other welfare schemes apart from meeting the Odisha government's own rice requirements. This surplus rice needs to be picked up by the FCI. This initiative will be very helpful in securing the livelihood of Odisha farmers.  

Pradhan said farmers who are dependent on paddy cultivation will benefit from the excess procurement of paddy sanctioned by the Union Government. 

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