Wheat Procurement Crosses Last Year's Figure, Comfortable To Meet Demand: Food Ministry

Procurement of wheat during Rabi marketing season 2024-25 is going on smoothly in the major procuring states across the country.

About 262.48 lakh tonne of wheat has already been procured so far this year, surpassing last year's total procurement of 262.02 lakh tonne, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said in an update on Friday,

A total of 22.31 lakh farmers have benefitted with total MSP outflow to the tune of Rs 59,715 crore.

Major contribution in the procurement came from five procuring states -- Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh with procurement of 124.26 LMT, 71.49 LMT, 47.78 LMT, 9.66 LMT, and 9.07 LMT, respectively.

At the beginning of the season, the food ministry had projected to procure 30-31 MT of wheat this season.

The government had announced an MSP of Rs 2275 per quintal for wheat, which is Rs 150 per quintal more than the previous season. In addition to MSP, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have announced a bonus of Rs 125 per quintal to boost purchases in their states. 

The rice procurement is also progressing smoothly, the government said. 728.42 lakh tonne paddy equivalent to 489.15 LMT of rice has been so far procured directly from 98.26 lakh farmers during Kharif marketing season 2023-24, with a total MSP outflow of approximately Rs 160,472 crores.

With the above quantity of procurement, the combined stock of wheat and rice at present in the central pool surpassed 600 LMT, putting the country in a comfortable position to meet its requirements of food grains under the free food programme Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) and other welfare schemes and for market interventions too, the government said.

The export of non-Basmati white rice has been under prohibition since July 2023 to check domestic prices and ensure domestic food security.

However, the central government has permitted exports of non-basmati white rice to various countries, based on permission granted by the government to other countries to meet their food security needs and based on the request of their government.

Meanwhile, Southwest Monsoon, set to hit the Kerala coast on 1 June as predicted by IMD, will be a key monitorable going ahead. India has three cropping seasons -- summer, kharif and rabi.

Southwest monsoon normally sets in over Kerala on June 1 with a standard deviation of about seven days.

These rains are crucial, especially for kharif crops dependent on rains. India has three cropping seasons -- summer, kharif and rabi.

Crops that are sown during October and November and the produce harvested from January depending on maturity are Rabi. Crops sown during June-July and dependent on monsoon rains are harvested in October-November are kharif. Crops produced between Rabi and Kharif are Summer crops.

Paddy, moong, bajra, maize, groundnut, soyabean, and cotton are some of the major Kharif crops. (ANI)