Amid protests in opposition to the three farm legal guidelines, the procurement of wheat has soared to an all-time excessive, a file seen with paddy as effectively.
The newest information obtainable with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) exhibits wheat procurement reached 405 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) until May 29 within the ongoing rabi advertising and marketing season (RMS)—4 per cent larger than 390 LMT in RMS 2020-21. The present 12 months’s wheat procurement determine is the very best ever.
This can also be the primary time that wheat procurement has crossed the 400 LMT mark.
In the present rabi advertising and marketing season, the very best wheat procurement—132 LMT—has been reported from Punjab. The state is adopted by Madhya Pradesh (127 LMT) and Haryana (84.93 LMT).
Last 12 months, Madhya Pradesh was the highest wheat procuring state.
During this rabi season, wheat procurement has been larger in each Punjab and Haryana, that are the epicentre of farmers’ agitation. Last 12 months, the wheat procurement figures for Punjab and Haryana have been 127 LMT and 74 LMT respectively.
The file wheat procurement comes simply after the all-time excessive procurement of paddy. In the 2020-21 kharif advertising and marketing season, paddy procurement was 789 LMT—in comparison with 773 LMT in KMS 2019-20, in accordance with FCI information. The highest paddy procurement has been reported from Punjab. It is adopted by Telangana, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Haryana.
According to FCI, there have been about 19,036 wheat procurement centres through the ongoing 2021-22 rabi advertising and marketing season, whereas the variety of procurement centres for paddy was 73,870 throughout KMS 2020-21.
The Centre procures foodgrains with two targets—guaranteeing MSP to farmers and availability of meals grains to the weaker sections at inexpensive costs below the general public distribution system.
According to FCI, the overall inventory of meals grains—wheat, rice and coarse grains within the central pool is round 1,000 lakh metric tonnes—wheat (525.65 LMT), rice (304.85 LMT), unmilled paddy (262.20 LMT equal to 176 LMT of rice) and coarse grain (7.50 LMT). In May final 12 months, foodgrain inventory within the central pool was round 800 LMT.
The present foodgrain inventory is far larger than buffer inventory norms. According to the present foodgrain stocking norms, efficient since July 2017, a complete amount of 210.40 LMT of wheat and rice is required because the operational inventory and strategic reserves as of April 1, adopted by 411.20 LMT as of July 1, 307.7 LMT as of October 1, and 214.10 LMT on January 1 yearly.