Wheat procurement reaches 90 lakh tonnes
Government's wheat procurement has almost touched the 90 lakh tonne mark as on May 7 as compared to a total of 92 lakh tonnes bought from farmers for public distribution system during the whole of last year.
By PTI |
NEW DELHI: Government's wheat procurement has almost touched the 90 lakh tonne mark as on May 7 as compared to a total of 92 lakh tonnes bought from farmers for public distribution system during the whole of last year.
Experts are hopeful that wheat prices will remain under control as farmers could be induced to sell their stocks due to the decision to import 1.5 million tonnes of the foodgrain by August 15 this year.
Food Corporation of India, government's nodal agency for procurement and distribution of foodgrains, has procured 89.5 lakh tonnes of wheat as on May 7 against 115.58 lakh tonnes that arrived at different mandis in Punjab, Haryana and other wheat growing states, according to official sources.
Government has taken several steps to procure adequate quantity of wheat to manage its welfare schemes and distribute the grain under public distribution system.
The purchase price of wheat was raised to Rs 850 per quintal this year by announcing a bonus of Rs 100 per quintal over and above the minimum support price.
Before the commencement of wheat procurement, the Centre also reportedly urged upon big private companies to wait for government purchases to make progress before they start buying from farmers.
According to a latest report by the US Department of Agriculture, India, the world's second-biggest wheat producer, could fall short of its wheat procurement target of 151 lakh tonnes by a good 50 lakh tonnes.
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