Particularly for districts of Gondia, Bhandara, Chandrapur
The Secretary, Department of Food and Public Distribution, Sudhanshu Pandey during his recent visit to Maharashtra inspected the paddy procurement centre- Kardha in Bhandara district to oversee the paddy procurement being done in the state.
It was informed that a new testing method of rice has been introduced by the government to know the age of the rice which would encourage paddy procurement and help the farmers.
The Secretary Food emphasised to give impetus on setting up fortified rice manufacturing plants especially in and around paddy procuring districts of Gondia, Bhandara, Chandrapur since the government has chalked out a plan for issuing fortified rice through Public Distribution System (PDS) in future as announced by the Prime Minister.
He also emphasised on promoting solvent extraction plants for manufacturing rice bran oil in the procuring Districts. He advised the government of Maharashtra to work on crop diversification especially the production of millets as the year 2023 is being declared as the International Year of Millets by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.