FCI wheat procurement up 30% at 18.37 MT

The Food Corporation of India (FCI) and states government agencies procured over 18.37 million tonnes (MT) of wheat on Tuesday, up 30% on the year.

The procurement process was delayed because of delayed harvesting of crops but it picked up pace in the last week and crossed over 18.37 MT, an official familiar with the matter said.

“Wheat purchases from the farmers by agencies will cross 19 MT on Wednesday against the total purchase of 18.79 MT of grain in the entire last season (April-June), 2022,” Financial Express cited sources as saying.

According to data, the government’s wheat procurement fell by 53 per cent to 182 lakh tonnes in the 2022-23 marketing year.

The nodal agency has set a target of procuring 341 lakh MT this year including 132 lakh MT from Punjab. Among the major contributors to the FCI’s procurement kitty, the highest contributor is Punjab, where the nodal agency has purchased 8.35 MT of wheat. While the figures for Haryana and Madhya Pradesh are 5.26 MT and 4.6 MT respectively.

The MSP operations for wheat purchase have benefited 1.85 million farmers so far. Against the due of Rs 38,772,188 crore to be paid to farmers for wheat purchase, the government agencies have paid Rs 23,019 crore, FE reported.

“There has been some delay in payment of MSP against wheat procurement to the farmers because of the issue of imposition of value loss imposed by the food ministry under the relaxed procurement norms and some of the states have promised to pay the farmers the value loss imposed by the agencies,” a food ministry official told FE.

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