After procurement of wheat exceeded 196 lakh tonnes (lt) in current season, the government has said that it has surpassed the annual requirement of 186 lt for all welfare schemes including the National Food Security Act. However, the actual requirement was 225 lt two years back, which was reduced after the country faced lower production of wheat and replaced with rice in the allocation.

While the government has been making efforts to buy at least 310 lt in the 2024-25 marketing year (April-March) after stocks on April fell to 16-year low and reached near the buffer norm, the real challenge is in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar, where it was earlier hoped to get a sizable quantity.

Lower purchases in Madhya Pradesh is not a concern as the target is only 80 lt despite the fact that once it surpassed even Punjab to contribute highest quantity to the Central Pool since it has capacity to offer 130 lt to the Centre.

“Government’s procurement is going on smoothly, Till now, we have procured 196 lakh tonne whereas the annual requirement of Prime Minister Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) and other welfare schemes is 186 lakh tonne,” a government official said as per media report.

The Centre had procured 261.97 lt of wheat in the 2023-24 and the target for this year is 373 lt.

The government estimates show wheat production to be 35.48 million tonnes (mt) in Uttar Pradesh, 23.48 mt in Madhya Pradesh, 16.13 mt in Punjab, 11.21 mt in Haryana, 10.42 mt in Rajasthan and 6.33 mt in Bihar.

Pan-India wheat production may be over 115 mt this year, exceeding the government’s second advance estimates of 112.02 mt, experts said. The target was 114 mt for 2023-24 crop year (July-June). The country’s wheat production was 110.55 mt in 2022-23.

There are four-five factors that mainly helped more number of farmers to harvest higher wheat this year whereas earlier a few progressive farmers were only getting better yield, said Gyanendra Singh, director of Karnal-based Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (IIWBR).

Singh said that Punjab has reported an average 7.5 quintal per hectare more yield this year taking the average productivity to about 5.3 tonne per hectare while details from other states are yet to come. The wheat production is likely to cross 115 mt, he added.

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