Agriculture Minister Concerned Over Slow Wheat Procurement in Madhya Pradesh

22-Apr-2026 10:33 AM

Bhopal: Union Agriculture Minister and former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, is deeply concerned over the significantly slow pace of government procurement of wheat—a vital food grain—during the ongoing Rabi marketing season in Madhya Pradesh.

Following Punjab, Madhya Pradesh is the second-largest contributor of wheat to the Central Pool. In this regard, he has held discussions with the State Chief Minister and urged him to resolve the bottlenecks hindering the pace of wheat procurement, thereby providing relief to the farmers.

According to official statistics, only 7.26 lakh tonnes of wheat could be procured by the government in Madhya Pradesh up to April 20 during the current Rabi marketing season, whereas during the same period last year, procurement had reached 47.15 lakh tonnes.

Although, similar to several other states, Madhya Pradesh was also granted permission to commence wheat procurement as early as March, this did not yield any significant results.

The data further reveals that it is not just Madhya Pradesh; government wheat procurement is lagging significantly behind last year's figures in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan as well. Weather conditions in these states were unfavorable.

It is understood that certain deficiencies in the government's procurement machinery in Madhya Pradesh this time around have made it difficult for farmers to sell their wheat at the designated procurement centers.

The Union Agriculture Minister has directed all District Magistrates to ensure robust arrangements are put in place as soon as possible to accelerate the pace of procurement.

A shortage of jute or plastic bags (sacks) has been observed at several procurement centers, leading to delays in the packaging of the procured wheat stock.