The pace of government procurement of wheat by central and state agencies has slowed down. Till May 21 of the current marketing season 2023-24, wheat procurement has reached 261.44 lakh tonnes against the target of 341.50 lakh tonnes. According to data from the Food Corporation of India (FCI), the nodal agency of the central government, 181.58 lakh tonnes of wheat was procured till the corresponding period of the last marketing season 2022-23. However, the total procurement last year was only 187.92 lakh tonnes, against the target of 444 lakh tonnes.
The FCI data, available with Rural Voice, shows Punjab has procured maximum wheat for the central pool till May 21, 2023. It has procured 121.19 lakh tonnes till this period against the target of 132 lakh tonnes. On the second number is Madhya Pradesh, where 70.81 lakh tonnes have been procured, which is about 10 lakh tonnes behind the target of 80 lakh tonnes, while 63.17 lakh tonnes has been purchased in Haryana, which is at number three. A target of 75 lakh tonnes has been set for this state.
There has been very less procurement in Uttar Pradesh as compared to the target. Here, against the target of 35 lakh tonnes, the figure has not reached even 10 per cent. The figure has barely crossed 2 lakh tonnes, though the state comes first in terms of wheat production.
Market experts say that private traders in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are paying more than the minimum support price (MSP) for wheat. That is why farmers are turning to private traders instead of government procurement centres. This is the reason why wheat procurement in these states is far behind the target.
The central government has fixed the MSP of wheat at Rs 2,125 per quintal for the current marketing season. Procurement is being done at government centres at this rate, while private traders are buying wheat from farmers at a higher price. Farmers are getting the price of good quality wheat up to Rs 2200-2400 per quintal.
In Rajasthan, against the target of 5 lakh tonnes, 82.6 per cent procurement has been done. Till May 21, 4.13 lakh tonnes of wheat has been procured here. Against the target of 10 lakh tonnes in Bihar only 539 tonnes, and in Himachal Pradesh against the target of 30,000 tonnes, only 2,825 tonnes of wheat has been procured. In Uttarakhand, 189 tonnes have been procured against the target of 2 lakh tonnes.