Claim of having sufficient stock of wheat to meet domestic needs

02-Jul-2024 05:04 PM

New Delhi. The marketing season for wheat procurement (April-June) is now over. This time 266 lakh tonnes of wheat was procured for the central pool, which was 4 lakh tonnes or 1.5 percent more than last year. On 1 July 2024, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) had a stock of 297.60 lakh tonnes of wheat,

which is more than the minimum required quantity of 275.80 lakh tonnes fixed for this date. The wheat procurement season ended on 30 June. According to official sources,

the government has sufficient stock of wheat to meet the needs of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana and other welfare schemes and to effectively intervene in the market. Under the Garib Kalyan Yojana, an annual supply of about 184 lakh tonnes of wheat is required.

During the current year, 266 lakh ton wheat was procured from about 21 lakh farmers of the country at the minimum support price and an amount of more than Rs 57,539 crore was paid into the bank accounts of the farmers as its price.

The minimum support price of wheat was increased from Rs 2125 per quintal last year to Rs 2275 per quintal this time.

In Punjab, 124.60 lakh ton wheat was procured for the central pool by five agencies, which fell short of the set target of 130 lakh ton.

Similarly, in Haryana, 71.50 lakh ton wheat was procured as compared to the set target of 80 lakh ton. But in Madhya Pradesh,

the total procurement could reach only 47.10 lakh ton which was much less than the set target of 80 lakh ton. Apart from this, in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan too, much less wheat could be procured than the target. In the last marketing season,

from June 28 to February 28, about 100 lakh tonnes of wheat was sold by the government under the open market sale scheme, which prevented a sharp rise in prices.