Wheat procurement by government agencies reaches all-time high

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Total 382 LMT wheat and 119 LMT paddy procured for the Central pool

Rs. 73,500 crores paid to 42 lakh farmers towards Minimum Support Price for wheat

– globalbihari bureau

New Delhi: Wheat procurement from farmers by Government agencies touched an all-time record figure on Tuesday when total procurement for the Central pool reached 382 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT) surpassing the earlier record of 381.48 LMT achieved during 2012-13.

This record was accomplished in spite of  a fortnight’s delay in the  commencement of procurement due to the first lockdown, a Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, press release stated on Wednesday. It stated that  procurement could kick off only from  April 15 in most of the wheat surplus states as against the standard April 1.

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The government said the number of purchase centers was increased from 14,838 to 21,869 this year by opening procurement centers in all possible locations, in addition to traditional mandis. “This has helped to reduce farmers’ footfall in mandis and ensured proper social distancing,” it said, and added that technological solutions were deployed to regulate the daily inflows into mandis through token systems. “These measures, along with actions on the ground for regular sanitizing, earmarking of dumping areas for each farmer etc, ensured that none of the food grain procurement centers became Covid-19 hotspot anywhere in the countr, it stated.

This year Madhya Pradesh became the largest contributor to Central pool with 129 LMT wheat, surpassing Punjab which procured 127 LMT. Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan also made significant contributions to the national procurement of wheat. “All over India, 42 Lakh farmers have been benefitted and a total amount of about Rs. 73,500 crore has been paid to them towards Minimum Support Price for wheat,” the ministry claimed, adding that 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 coming months.

During the same period, 119 Lakh MT paddy was also procured by the government agencies through 13,606 purchase centers. Maximum procurement was done by Telangana which contributed 64 LMT followed by Andhra Pradesh with 31 LMT. State wise procurement of wheat and paddy is as follows-

Wheat

Paddy

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