Govt's wheat procurement crosses 38 million tonnes in 2012 so far

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Wheat procurement has crossed 38 million tonnes in the current marketing year so far as the government's wheat purchase drive is coming to close in the most of growing states.

"The Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state governments-owned bodies have procured 380,23,024 tonnes of wheat so far this year," a Food Ministry official said.

The quantity of the grain procured as of now is much higher than the targeted 31.8 million tonnes for the current year. In the same period last year, the government had purchased only 28 million tonnes of wheat, he said.

According to the official data, maximum wheat has been procured from Punjab (12.8 million tonnes) followed by Haryana (8.6 million tonnes), Madhya Pradesh (8.4 million tonnes) and Uttar Pradesh (5 million tonnes) so far.

Wheat has been purchased at a minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 1,285 a quintal.

With procurement drive still on in Bihar, this year's total wheat purchases would set an all-time record at 38.3 million tonnes, which has been mainly due to bumper wheat production of 90.23 million tonnes this year.

However, increase in procurement has added woes to the storage crisis. At present, foodgrains stock in the FCI godowns are full at over 82 million tonnes, against the storing capacity of 64 million tonnes.

The government buys wheat at MSP to ensure assured price to farmers and at the same time make available foodgrains for various welfare schemes.