Government procurement of wheat reaches above 290 lakh tonnes
12-May-2025 12:55 PM
New Delhi. Central agency Food Corporation of India (FCI) and its associated provincial agencies have so far procured more than 290 lakh tonnes of wheat for the central pool in the Rabi marketing season of the year 2025. Which is the highest level in the last four years. Earlier, 266 lakh tonnes of wheat was procured in 2024, 262 lakh tonnes in 2023 and 188 lakh tonnes in 2022.
According to official sources, this time 16 percent more wheat has been procured as compared to the same period last year, while the procurement process is still going on.
At the national level, a total of 374.80 lakh tonnes of wheat arrived in the current Rabi marketing season, out of which a little more than 290 lakh tonnes were procured by government agencies.
This means that this time a good amount of wheat has also been procured by flour millers / processors and traders / stockists. The Union Food Ministry has set a target of procuring 333 lakh tonnes of wheat this year and is confident of achieving it.
In the year 2021, a record purchase of 433.44 lakh tonnes of wheat was made for the central pool, but after that it remained far behind the target for three years.
If the target is achieved this time, it will be a big achievement for the government and this will make more stock of wheat available for distribution in other welfare programs including the public distribution system and the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS).
This time there has been a good increase in government procurement of wheat in the six states - Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar, which contribute more than 95 percent of the wheat to the central pool.
According to the data received, this time government agencies have procured 117.10 lakh tonnes of wheat from farmers in Punjab, 77.70 lakh tonnes in Madhya Pradesh, 70.30 lakh tonnes in Haryana, 14.90 lakh tonnes in Rajasthan and 9.60 lakh tonnes in Uttar Pradesh.
Apart from this, procurement is also being done in Bihar, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
This time Madhya Pradesh has left Haryana behind and become the second most important state to contribute wheat to the central pool after Punjab.
In the initial phase, the target of purchasing 60 lakh tonnes of wheat was set there, which was later increased to 80 lakh tonnes in two phases of 10 lakh tonnes each.
Due to this, the target of wheat procurement at the national level also increased from 312.70 lakh tonnes to 332.70 lakh tonnes. In other states, the government procurement of wheat is lagging behind the set target.
This especially includes Uttar Pradesh where the actual procurement has reached only 30 percent compared to the set target of 30 lakh tonnes.
The government procurement target of wheat has been set at 124 lakh tonnes in Punjab, 75 lakh tonnes in Haryana and 20 lakh tonnes in Rajasthan.