Centre aims seven-fold jump in wheat procurement from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar this year

Centre plans to increase wheat procurement from non-traditional States like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar to 50 lakh tonnes in 2024-25.

Amid the heat of the ongoing Lok Sabha electioneering, the Centre has announced plans to significantly increase wheat purchase from non-traditional States of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar and set a target of seven-fold jump in procurement to 50 lakh tonnes in the ongoing 2024-25 marketing year.

Further, even as the ban on outbound shipments of wheat continues, "it will be a dream for us to export now", Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra told 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 said.

While Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Bihar put together contributed only 6.7 lakh tonnes to the Central pool during the 2023-24 marketing year (April-March), the Union Food Ministry has decided to procure 16% of the total wheat procurement target of 310 lakh tonne set for 2024-25. Wheat procurement at Minimum Support Price (MSP) is normally undertaken by the Centre's nodal agency Food Corporation of India (FCI) and State agencies. However, cooperatives Nafed and NCCF have also been roped in with a procurement target of five lakh each this year.

Wheat MSP has been fixed at ₹2,275 per quintal for the current year. Since October, the Centre has been working with these three States to increase the procurement level. “Various steps have been taken to address the gaps and it should help boost procurement levels in three States,” he said.

Asserting that 2024 general elections is unlikely to affect wheat procurement operations, the Secretary said the increase in wheat procurement from non-traditional States will help restore allocation of wheat under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana and other 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.