Amid the warmth of the continued Lok Sabha electioneering, the Centre has introduced plans to considerably enhance wheat buy from non-traditional States of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar and set a goal of seven-fold jump in procurement to 50 lakh tonnes in the continued 2024-25 advertising year.
Further, even because the ban on outbound shipments of wheat continues, “it will be a dream for us to export now”, Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra instructed reporters on April 4.
“U.P., Bihar, and Rajasthan have been contributing much less than they could have. We are targeting total wheat procurement of 310 lakh tonne this year. Of which, we are hoping to procure at least 50 lakh tonne from three non-traditional procurement States alone,” he stated.
While Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Bihar put collectively contributed solely 6.7 lakh tonnes to the Central pool through the 2023-24 advertising year (April-March), the Union Food Ministry has determined to obtain 16% of the whole wheat procurement goal of 310 lakh tonne set for 2024-25. Wheat procurement at Minimum Support Price (MSP) is often undertaken by the Centre’s nodal company Food Corporation of India (FCI) and State companies. However, cooperatives Nafed and NCCF have additionally been roped in with a procurement goal of 5 lakh every this year.
Wheat MSP has been mounted at ₹2,275 per quintal for the present year. Since October, the Centre has been working with these three States to extend the procurement degree. “Various steps have been taken to address the gaps and it should help boost procurement levels in three States,” he stated.
Asserting that 2024 normal elections is unlikely to have an effect on wheat procurement operations, the Secretary stated the rise in wheat procurement from non-traditional States will assist restore allocation of wheat beneath the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana and different welfare schemes.
“The allocation of wheat has been reduced to 184 lakh tonnes annually from the previous 230-240 lakh tonnes under various welfare schemes in view of lower procurement in the last two years,” he added.
Mr. Chopra additionally stated the Centre has not directed merchants to keep away from shopping for wheat from farmers until the federal government completes procurement. “No such instruction has been given to traders,” he added.
Highlighting steps taken to strengthen wheat procurement in non-traditional States, the Secretary stated the procurement window has been superior/prolonged to March as a substitute of April 1, arrange a devoted farmer helpline to handle procurement-related queries, intensified media publicity of MSP charge, and drying services have been supplied for early harvested crop.
Besides, the federal government has superior farmer registration from January 1 as a substitute of March 1, simplified farmers’ land report verification, together with tenant farmers, given versatile procurement targets to companies.
More importantly, the Secretary stated the federal government has determined to make sure switch of MSP to financial institution accounts of farmers inside 48 hours, streamlined procurement incidental burden for farmers, smoothened banking-related points reminiscent of Aadhaar integration with financial institution accounts.
“The government has also opened more procurement centres targeting production hotspots, set up mobile procurement centres, decide to leverage Self Help Groups, Panchayats, Farmer Producer Organisations,” he stated.
“That apart, the government has ensured institutional preparedness through working capital to agencies to ensure payment of MSP to farmers within 48 hours,” he added.
The Secretary additional talked about {that a} Central management room has been arrange in the FCI headquarters in Delhi for real-time monitoring of procurement advert coordination amongst varied companies.
According to the Food Ministry, six lakh tonnes of wheat have already been procured thus far this year from six States — Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Bihar. The procurement from conventional States of Punjab and Haryana will start quickly.
On costs of wheat and rice, the Secretary stated wheat flour and wheat costs are steady at current after introduction of retail sale of wheat flour at ‘Bharat’ model. About 7.06 lakh tonne of wheat flour has been bought until now.
“Even retail inflation of rice remained stable at 13% and 14% for the last two months. About 3.1 lakh tonne of FCI rice has been sold under Bharat brand since February,” he added.
Asked if the federal government will revisit the wheat export ban amid estimates of upper manufacturing, the Secretary stated, “It’s a dream for us to export now.” The authorities has banned wheat exports since May 2022 to spice up home availability and test costs.
The wheat manufacturing is estimated to be a report 112 million tonne throughout 2023-24, in comparison with final year’s 110 million tonnes as per the Agriculture Ministry.
