Seeking to bring about aparadigm shiftin the government’spaddy procurement system, the is all set to rope in private players to process paddy procured by the civil supplies corporation fromfarmers. Sources said the government would sign agreements with private players for 10 years.
Drenching of paddy bags in direct procurement centres (DPCs) will be a thing of the past as modern rice mills of 200TPD (tonnes per day) would come up at Theni, and six units of 500TPD would come up at Thanjavur, Cuddalore, Mayiladuthurai and Thiruvarur districts. These centres to be established by private players would have adequate warehouses/silo to store 1,500MT/3,500MT. They would also have facilities for post-harvesting activities, said sources.
The rice will be sent for public distribution in bags of 5kgs-50kgs as stipulated by the Civil Supplies Corporation.
The state procures 40 lakh tonnes of paddy annually. It hulls paddy in its own 21 rice mills and through 592 private hulling agents. They have a minimum capacity of 100TPD. Frequent cyclonic storms result in moisture level rising in paddy. Hence, they require post-harvest drying facility.
The rice mills and hulling agents, however, lack drying and storage facilities, which results in large scale damage to paddy and deterioration of quality of rice and by-products. “Tenders will be floated in a few days to engage private players to save the paddy from getting spoilt and improve the quality of rice being supplied to PDS outlets,” said a senior official.