Wheat procurement reaches 25.9 million tonnes
The FCI and state agencies have procured around 259 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of wheat so far this year. Of this, 120.50 LMT was procured from Punjab, against last year’s 95.56 LMT. Punjab is followed by Madhya Pradesh, which contributed 69.83 LMT of wheat to the national pool, and Haryana which supplied 62.91 LMT. Officials said the procurement in Punjab and Haryana had already peaked.
Team RuralVoice
As wheat procurement reaches 25.9 million tonnes (mt) as on May 15, the total purchases look to be between 26 mt and 27 mt this year, much less than the target. The drive to procure wheat in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh is scheduled to end within a month.
Though there could be a surplus of about 8 mt against the annual demand under the food security law and other welfare schemes, potentially helping the government to make provision for market intervention, it will remain far short of the overall procurement target of 34.15 mt. Despite the onslaught of inclement weather which continued right till the end of the harvesting season, Punjab has once again become the largest contributor to the national food grain pool. Over 46 per cent of the total wheat purchased by the Food Corporation of India so far is from Punjab. The nation’s wheat stock has already been replenished this year and put India in a comfortable position in terms of food security.
The FCI and state agencies have procured around 259 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of wheat so far this year. Of this, 120.50 LMT was procured from Punjab, against last year’s 95.56 LMT. Punjab is followed by Madhya Pradesh, which contributed 69.83 LMT of wheat to the national pool, and Haryana which supplied 62.91 LMT. Officials said the procurement in Punjab and Haryana had already peaked.
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Ashok Meena, Chairman, and Managing Director, FCI, said, “We need around 186 LMT of wheat for the public distribution system (PDS), which we have already got. At present, we have a stock of over 315 LMT.” As per the FCI buffer norms, around 245.80 LMT of wheat is required as on July 1 when the procurement season across the country ends.
In 2022, the Centre’s wheat procurement had plunged to 187.92 LMT due to higher export and output loss due to a prolonged heatwave. Though the FCI got enough wheat to replenish its stock, private players dominated procurement in some states by offering higher prices than the minimum support price (MSP).
FCI officials said farmers were getting more than MSP in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh, where the procurement by the agency was low. Further, many farmers were not selling their produce with the hope of fetching higher prices later on, they said. As per official data, Uttar Pradesh is the largest wheat-producing state in the country, followed by Madhya Pradesh and Punjab. Despite this, only 1.97 lakh tonnes of wheat could be procured in Uttar Pradesh till May 15, whereas this year the target is 35 lakh tonnes.
