Wheat procurement surpasses last year's figures, hits 26.3 million tonnes
₹59,715 crore towards minimum support price. Leading procuring states include Punjab (12.42 million tonnes), Haryana (7.15 million tonnes), Madhya Pradesh (4.78 million tonnes), Rajasthan (966,000 tonnes), and Uttar Pradesh (907,000 tonnes).While wheat procurement typically spans April to March, this year, it started in early March for most states following the Centre's decision to allow purchases upon crop arrivals.Rice procurement is progressing smoothly.
Around 72.84 million tonnes of paddy, which is equivalent to 48.91 million tonnes of rice, was directly procured from 9.82 million farmers with MSP expenditure of ₹1.6 trillion.“Exceeding 60 million tonnes, the combined stock of wheat and rice in the central pool assures the government of a comfortable position to fulfill the country's foodgrain requirements under the PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana and other welfare schemes, as well as for market interventions," said Rajesh Sharma, an agriculture expert.The ministry has directed agencies, including National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) and the National Co-operative Consumers' Federation of India (NCCF), to directly procure wheat from farmers for Bharat Atta, a measure aimed at stabilizing prices of essential foods. Milestone Alert!
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