Centre has procured 64.79 lakh metric tonnes of wheat within a month, with Haryana – one of the worst-hit states due to protests against three farm laws – accounting for nearly half of the total purchases of the cereal so far.
The speed with which Food Corporation of India (FCI) has embarked on procurement of wheat this year is a stark contrast to just 60 metric tonnes of the cereal till April 14 the previous year. During the Rabi Marketing Season of 2019-20, the FCI had procured 12.81 lakh metric tonnes of wheat for the corresponding period.
Procurement of wheat begins mid-March in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat and from April 1 in Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. Due to the Covid-19 situation in the state, Punjab had deferred wheat procurement to April 10 this year.
As many as 6.60 lakh farmers from 11 states have received payouts totaling Rs 12,800 crore for their wheat crop that was purchased at the minimum support price of Rs 1,975 per quintal, Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey told reporters here.
The Centre plans to procure 427 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of wheat this Rabi Marketing Season (RMS) as against the 389 LMT procured last year.
Of the 64.79 LMT wheat procured this year, 30.09 LMT has been purchased from farmers in Haryana, 20.63 LMT from Madhya Pradesh, 10.56 LMT from Punjab, 1.8 LMT from Uttar Pradesh and 1.31 LMT from Rajasthan.
Pandey said from the current RMS, farmers across the country were getting the payment for the food grains purchased from them directly in their bank accounts.
He said the arthiyas – middlemen – will get their 2.5 per cent commission in their bank accounts separately.
Pandey said the Centre was also working on improving storage capacity by 100 LMT by building silos under the storage modernisation plan and phase out conventional godowns gradually.