Kakinada:Rice millers in Andhra Pradesh and exporters have stopped buying the rice supplied through the Public Distribution System (PDS) in the aftermath of raids on rice mills and warehouses, where it could be stored for exports.However, this has not led to ration shop dealers not purchasing PDS rice from beneficiaries in Andhra Pradesh. They are continuing to buy the PDS rice, which they are now selling to poultry farms, though at lesser profits.According to sources, some of the poultry farms are buying PDS rice from ration dealers at ₹20 per kilo, as their feed cost. like that of maize purchased by farm owners, has increased abnormally. PDS rice thus purchased is being turned into flour or broken rice and fed to the birds, along with millets and rice bran.There are also some enterprising entrepreneurs, who are purchasing the PDS rice, mixing it with jowar, rice bran and cheap millets, which is being powdered. The same is being sold to poultry farm owners for ₹30,000 per tonne or ₹30–35 per kilo.Civil supplies and police officials are not paying attention to poultry farms for detecting the PDS rice. Sources said ration dealers and rice traders have formed a network for purchasing the PDS from beneficiaries and selling the same to poultry farmers or intermediaries for making money.Of late, rice millers have started facing another problem of authorities raiding their units and questioning them about the broken rice they are storing. The millers are coming under pressure, with officers alleging that the millers have broken down the PDS rice and are exporting the same through intermediaries.“This is not correct,” millers say. Kakinada District Rice Millers Association president N. Ramakrishna said they also mill customised rice that the FCI authorities mix with protein kernels. These protein kennels can be found in the broken rice being exported to other countries.A rice miller pointed out that broken rice is cheaper than raw rice. No rice miller will turn raw rice into broken rice, he maintained.
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