Wheat procurement up 50% to 323.67 lakh tonne so far

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New Delhi, May 08 (PTI): Wheat Procurement has risen 50 per cent to 323.67 lakh tonne so far in the ongoing 2021-22 rabi marketing season, benefiting over 32 lakh farmers with MSP payment of Rs 63,924.56 crore, the food ministry said.
The Centre’s nodal agency Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state agencies undertake procurement at minimum support price (MSP). The MSP payment is made directly into the bank accounts of farmers.
Releasing the latest date, the food ministry said total wheat procurement has reached 323.67 lakh tonne till May 6 of the 2021-22 rabi marketing season (April-March), up from 216 lakh tonne in the year-ago period.
“About 32.21 lakh farmers have already benefited from the ongoing rabi marketing season procurement operations with MSP value of Rs 63,924.56 crore,” the ministry added.
Procurement of wheat — the main rabi (winter) crop — is continuing smoothly in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir and Bihar, it added.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic crisis, the Rajasthan government has procured 10.5 lakh tonne wheat at minimum support price (MSP) in various mandis.
In a statement, Rajasthan Food and Civil Supplies Secretary Naveen Jain said the department has procured 10.5 lakh tonne wheat at the minimum support price, from which, about one lakh farmers have benefited.
He added that despite the adverse circumstances and limited resources during the pandemic, the food and civil supplies department is procuring wheat at the minimum support price in the rabi marketing year 2021-22.
He said 387 procurement centres have been set up in the state for procurement of wheat at the MSP.
He said that so far, the Food Corporation of India has procured about 7.30 lakh tonne of wheat besides 1.35 lakh tonne of Tilam Sangh, 1.8 lakh tonne by RAJFED and 65,000 tonne by NAFED.
He informed that so far, 11.50 lakh tonne wheat has arrived in the mandis, out of which, 10.50 lakh tonnes of wheat has been procured by the department at the MSP.