Govt’s wheat procurement touches record high of 38.2 million tonnes

Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 17

Procurement of wheat by the government agencies reached an all-time high of 382 lakh metric tonnes this year with Madhya Pradesh emerging as the largest contributor to the central pool with 129 LMT, surpassing Punjab with 127 LMT.

The record was achieved on June 16 when wheat procurement surpassed the earlier record of 381.48 LMT during 2012-13 with Haryana contributing 74 LMT, Uttar Pradesh 32 LMT and Rajasthan 19 LMT, according to the Food and Consumer Affairs Ministry.

In the period, 119 LMT paddy was also procured, the maximum, 64 LMT, being from Telangana followed by Andhra Pradesh (31 LMT) and Odisha (14 LMT).

While there is no official explanation for increase in wheat procurement in Madhya Pradesh, experts say there could be many reasons, one of which may be lower participation of private players due to COVID-19 lockdown.

Agriculture expert Sudhir Panwar explains: “Usually, private players prefer MP wheat, which is considered of better quality. This year, private participation may have been less because of the lockdown.”

“Wheat production in MP has been rising because of good incentives by the state government. The area of MP is also more than Punjab. Besides, the MSP announced by the Centre was more than open market price. The government also allocated more money for purchase,” says Panwar.

The proximity of MP to Mumbai and southern states also makes it a better purchasing place for private players, he adds.

Meanwhile according to the Centre, all over India, 42 lakh farmers benefitted and a total amount of about Rs 73,500 crore was given as Minimum Support Price for wheat.

The hefty inflow of food grains into central pool ensured that FCI is ready to meet any additional requirement of food grains for the people of the country in the coming months, it says.

This has been accomplished during the trying times of COVID-19 pandemic when the whole country was under lockdown.

The commencement of procurement was delayed by a fortnight due to the first lockdown and kicked off only from April 15 in most of the wheat surplus states as against the standard April 1.

Extraordinary efforts have been made by state governments and all government procuring agencies led by Food Corporation of India (FCI) to ensure that wheat is procured from farmers without any delay and in a safe manner.