Despite starting late, the procurement of wheat has jumped by a quarter to 17.08 million tonnes (mt) as of April 24 against 13.69 mt a year ago. Earlier at the start of the marketing season on April 1, delayed arrivals resulted in the procurement of the cereal being 23 per cent lower until April 16 before gathering momentum.

Higher procurement will likely help the government restore the reduced wheat quota under public distribution system (PDS) as a decision is expected next month.

The procurement has crossed the halfway mark of the targetted 34.15 mt and it looks like the target is all set to be breached this year by the way grains are arriving so far, said an official source.

Also read:Wheat procurement tops 11 million tonnes, up 12% as grains pile up

1.7 m farmers benefit

According to official data, over 1.7 million farmers have benefitted so far from the ongoing procurement season started April 1, with expected outflow of ₹36,301 crore at minimum support price (MSP) of ₹2,125/quintal.

Punjab, which reported 17 per cent lower procurement until April 19, has also shown an increase in purchases by 3 per cent to 7.63 mt as of April 24 from a year ago. The target in Punjab has been fixed at 13.2 mt this year. It was Punjab which contributed the maximum wheat, more than half of total purchases made for the Central Pool last year and that saved the Centre when exporters and traders paid higher than MSP in other States.

Procurement in Madhya Pradesh is up by 66 per cent at 4.29 mt from 2.58 mt whereas the target is to buy 8 mt by June 15. Last year, the Centre could purchase only 4.6 mt against a target of 12.9 mt from the State.

Haryana has reported at 40 per cent jump at 5.06 mt from 3.61 mt a year ago and the largest wheat producing State Uttar Pradesh reported a 4 per cent increase in procurement at 86,030 tonnes as on April 24 from 82,578 tonnes in the year-ago period, official data show.

Among other States, the government has bought 25,072 tonnes in Rajasthan and 7,270 tonnes in Chandigarh. Gujarat is yet to purchase any quantity while Bihar has reported the procurement at 180 tonnes.

Govt to wait

Meanwhile, the government has decided to wait till a month by when the wheat procurement will be almost over to decide if the reduced allocation quota to 10 States, decided in May 2022 due to a drastic fall in wheat procurement, should be restored or not. As much as 6 lakh tonnes per month under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) wheat quota was replaced with the same volume of rice when the Centre revised the allocation last year.

The wheat stock in the Central Pool dropped to 8.35 mt as of April 1, which is the lowest in six years. The previous low was at 8.06 mt on April 1, 2017 as procurement dropped by 5 mt in 2016-17 season.

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