Faced with inadequate storage facility, the Centre has decided to engage private players during the current kharif season for procurement of rice in Uttar Pradesh and four other eastern states. A senior Food Ministry official told PTI that the Union Food Ministry has prepared a policy acting on the recommendations of the high-level committee of the state-owned Food Corporation of India, FCI. Rice procurement for the 2015-16 Kharif season would begin from October and the government has kept a total procurement target of 30 million tonnes for the season. The official said, the procurement policy has been finalised for Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Assam. He said, private players will be roped in for rice procurement wherever necessary in these states. These five states contribute over 40 per cent of the country's estimated total rice production of over 102 million tonnes.