Paddy, Wheat Procurement : In the last eight years, there has been a significant increase in the government procurement of wheat and paddy in terms of quantity and value. Actually, this has become possible due to increase in minimum support price ( MSP ) and procurement from more states. An official of the Food Ministry has given this information. The Food Corporation of India ( FCI ) is also now procuring more wheat and paddy, increasing the number of farmers covered under the MSP. FCI is the nodal agency for procurement and distribution of food grains in the country.
Procurement is being done from more states
Subodh Singh, additional secretary in the food ministry , said, “There has been a significant increase in the central procurement of wheat and paddy between the marketing seasons 2013-14 and 2021-22. The procurement base has expanded significantly and we are now procuring food grains from more states. There has been a significant increase in the MSP. He said that procurement is taking place in Himachal Pradesh, Assam and Tripura. FCI has also started buying paddy from Rajasthan. The production of wheat and paddy has also increased significantly since 2013-14.
How much wheat procurement increased
Wheat procurement has been increased from 250.72 lakh tonnes in the year 2013-14 to 433.44 lakh tonnes in the year 2021-22. During this period, the value of procured wheat has increased from Rs 33,847 crore to Rs 85,604 crore.
Singh said that as against 20.47 lakh farmers in the year 2016-17, 49.2 lakh farmers cultivating wheat were benefited in the year 2021-22. The data of farmers benefited before the year 2016-17 is not available. The MSP of wheat has been increased to Rs 2,125 per quintal, which is 57 per cent higher than Rs 1,350 per quintal in 2013-14.
how much paddy was purchased
In the case of paddy, the MSP increased by nearly 53 per cent to Rs 2,060 per quintal from Rs 1,345 per quintal in 2013-14. In the marketing year 2021-22 (October-September), paddy procurement has increased from 475.30 lakh tonnes in the year 2013-14 to 857 lakh tonnes. The MSP given to paddy farmers during the marketing year 2021-22 has increased from about Rs 64,000 crore earlier to about Rs 1.7 lakh crore.
Government is increasing the purchase of coarse grains
Singh said that apart from wheat and paddy, the Center has asked states to procure coarse grains and distribute it. Also, it has been assured that the central government will bear the cost.
He said that currently nine states are procuring coarse grains, which include Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Tamil Nadu. He said that Maize, Bajra, Jowar and Ragi are being procured on MSP. Singh said the procurement of coarse cereals is expected to increase to about 9.5 lakh tonnes in 2022-23 from about 6.5 lakh tonnes last year.
