Country's foodgrain stock at 64 million tonnes: Govt

"The foodgrains stock in the country with government procurement agencies as on July 1, 2011, is 64 million tonnes, comprising 26.85 million tonnes of rice and 37.14 million tonnes of wheat," an official statement said today.

As per government norms, Food Corporation of India (FCI) should have 21.2 MT of wheat and rice available in its buffer stock as of October 1 every year. This includes 5 MT of strategic reserves.

Food Corporation of India (FCI), the nodal agency for foodgrains procurement and distribution, had procured 31.06 MT of rice till July 1 in the 2010-11 kharif marketing season (October-September) as against 29.74 MT in the year-ago period.

Wheat procurement by FCI in the 2011-12 rabi marketing season (April-March) till July 1 stood at 27.83 MT, compared to 22.47 MT in the last season.

India achieved record foodgrains production of 241.56 MT in the 2010-11 crop year (July-June) and the foodgrain output in the 2011-12 crop year is pegged at 245 MT.
"The offtake of rice in all schemes, during June, 2011, has been 2.81 MT," the statement said.

This includes 1.9 MT under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) and 9.06 lakh tonnes under other schemes, it added.

Total offtake of wheat in June stood at 2.05 MT, comprising 1.47 MT under the TPDS and 5.85 lakh tonnes under other schemes, it said.

The government had allotted 2.2 MT of rice during June, 2011, under the TPDS to Below Poverty Line (BPL), Above Poverty Line (APL) and Aantyodaya Anna Yojna (AAY) families and the offtake stood at 1.9 MT.

Total allotment of wheat under the TPDS, including BPL, APL and AAY families, was 1.95 million tonnes, against which the total offtake was 1.47 MT.