Wheat procurement tops 260 LMT, surpasses last year’s buys
The major contributing factor in healthy procurement this year has been the grant of relaxation by the government in quality specifications of wheat affected due to untimely rains
PremiumNew Delhi: Wheat procurement during the current rabi marketing season has crossed 260 lakh metric tonnes (LMT), surpassing the last year’s 188 LMT, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said on Thursday.
The ministry said, “Wheat procurement during the ongoing Rabi Marketing Season (RMS) 2023-24 has progressed smoothly. The progressive procurement of wheat in the current season till 30.05.2023 is 262 Lakh Metric Ton (LMT) which has already surpassed last year’s total procurement of 188 LMT by 74 LMT."
According to the statement, minimum support price (MSP) outflow of about ₹47,000 crore has already been made to about 21.27 lakh farmers during the ongoing wheat procurement operations.
“Notably, major contribution in the procurement has come from three procuring states of Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana with procurement of 121.27 LMT, 70.98 LMT and 63.17 LMT respectively," the statement said.
The major contributing factor in healthy procurement this year has been the grant of relaxation by the government in quality specifications of wheat affected due to untimely rains, it said.
The statement further said, “The Central government has also allowed all the states to open procurement centres at village/ panchayat level; carrying out procurement through co-operative societies/ gram panchayats/ Arhatias etc. in addition to designated procurement centres for better outreach and permission to engage FPOs for procurement operations."
“In addition, rice procurement is also progressing smoothly. A quantity of 385 LMT of rice has been procured till 30.05.2023 during the Kharif crop of Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2022-23 with another 110 LMT yet to be procured. Further, a quantity of 106 LMT rice has been estimated to be procured during the Rabi crop of KMS 2022-23," it said.
“The combined stock position of wheat and rice in the Central Pool is over 579 LMT (Wheat 312 LMT and Rice 267 LMT) which has placed the country in a comfortable position to meet its requirements of food grains," it added.
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