New Delhi, April 19: The government Monday said that wheat procurement for 2010-11 season, which started this month, has increased by about 11 per cent to 130.85 lakh tonne over the same period last season.
Food Corporation of India (FCI), the nodal agency for procurement and distribution of foodgrains, had procured 118.09 lakh tonnes of wheat in the corresponding period of 2009-10 marketing season.
Although wheat marketing season runs from April-March,bulk of procurement is done between April and June.
The government expects that wheat procurement in 2010-11 marketing season would exceed the last year’s record of 253.85 lakh tonne and reach 262 lakh tonne.
According to the government data, Punjab has contributed the maximum to the central pool at 61.61 lakh tonnes of wheat so far this season, up five per cent against 58.51 lakh tonne in the year-ago period.
Wheat procurement from Haryana too has risen by six per cent so far this season to 48.30 lakh tonne from 45.52 lakh tonne in the corresponding period last year.
Contribution of Madhya Pradesh to the central pool has increased by over two-fold at 17.92 lakh tonne this season compared to 7.91 lakh tonne in the year-ago period.
Meanwhile, purchase of the foodgrain from Rajasthan has declined 58 per cent to 1.61 lakh tonne so far this season against 3.83 lakh tonne same time last year.
Wheat procurement from Uttar Pradesh has also decreased by close to 40 per cent at 1.12 lakh tonne so far this season against 1.87 lakh tonne in the same period last year.
The government procures foodgrains at a fixed minimum support price (MSP) so as to protect farmers from market fluctuations. The MSP for wheat has been decided at Rs 1,100 per quintal for the 2010-11 marketing season.
India’s wheat production was pegged at 80.28 million tonne in the 2009-10 season, which is marginally lower than the previous year’s record of 80.68 million tonne.
–PTI