Government's concern remains as wheat procurement is much less than the target

18-Jun-2024 08:34 PM

New Delhi. Concerned over procurement of 48.40 lakh tonnes or 60 percent wheat in Madhya Pradesh against the set target of 80 lakh tonnes, the government has extended the procurement deadline there till June 25. Similarly,

the deadline for wheat procurement in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh was June 15. In these three states, procurement of much less wheat than the set target was possible.

In comparison to this, the procurement situation in Punjab-Haryana was better. However, even there, its quantity could not reach the set target.

According to official figures, wheat procurement for the central pool during the current year increased slightly from 262 lakh tonnes to 265.36 lakh tonnes as compared to last year.

Under this, the procurement quantity in Punjab increased from 121 lakh tonnes to 124.50 lakh tonnes and in Haryana it jumped from 63 lakh tonnes to 71 lakh tonnes. On the other hand, in Madhya Pradesh it declined from 71 lakh tonnes to 48.40 lakh tonnes.

It is noteworthy that for the current Rabi marketing season, the government had set a target of purchasing 130 lakh tons of wheat in Punjab, 80 lakh tons each in Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, 60 lakh tons in Uttar Pradesh and 20 lakh tons in Rajasthan,

but the actual purchase in any state could not reach the set target. It is understood that big firms tried to buy wheat from farmers at a price higher than the minimum support price and big producers tried to suppress the stock of wheat with the expectation of even higher prices in future,

due to which there was a slight increase in government purchase. This has increased the concern of the central government. Although there is no threat to national food security at present, but there may be difficulty in controlling the market price.