Patna, (Bihar Times): Chief minister Nitish Kumar has
written a letter to the Union agriculture minister,
Sharad Pawar, requesting him to get moved at least 1.5
lakh tonnes of foodgrains from the Food Corporation of
India (FCI) godowns of the state as it is coming in
the way of further procurement of wheat from farmers.
The letter says that the farmers are being deprived of
the benefits of the minimum support price, which has
been raised by the Centre to Rs 1,000 per quintal for
wheat.
The Chief Minister letter said that the surplus
foodgrains should be moved to the godowns outside the
state to make space for further procurement. Bihar,
according to him, had procured a record 3.06 lakh
tonnes of wheat so far this year and the FCI godowns
are overflowing with grains.
The rise in minimum support price made it possible for
Bihar to break its previous wheat procurement record
of 48,000 tonne in 2001-02. All this happened even
when some state agencies earlier in the year predicted
that the rabi crop would not be good this year.
The 25 per cent rise in the minimum support price
encouraged the farmers to sell their produce. As Bihar
became foodgrains surplus state from the foodgrains
deficit state only in 1990s it lacks storage capacity.
The bumper crop this year exposed this fact.
