Kerala to buy rice from AP

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State Government has reached an agreement with the Andhra Pradesh Government to purchase rice. This is apart from the rice bought from the Food Corporation of India (FCI). The agreement was reached at a ministerial-level meeting held in  Hyderabad on Thursday. The meeting was attended by State Food and Civil Supplies Minister Shibu Baby John, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, Union Minister of State for Food K V Thomas, Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Raja Narasimha, Andhra Food and Civil Service Minister Sreedhar Babu and Union Minister Pallam Raju. Shibu Baby John said that the purchase of rice from Andhra Pradesh would ensure the smooth supply of rice in the state. He said that as per the new agreement, the rice would be supplied to Kerala at a cheaper rate than  the existing price. Kerala needs a total of 40,000 tonne of rice per month.“The rice variety such as Jaya and Sureka from Andhra Pradesh are in high demand in the market owing to which scarcity is often reported. Buying these varieties from Andhra will help overcome this situation. The AP Government directly procures the rice from the farmers because of which they would be in a position to offer us the rice at a cheaper price,’’  the Minister said.At present, Kerala purchases rice from FCI at a price of Rs 14.7 per kg, and in  the  meeting an agreement was also reached on increasing the quota of the state.