India?s all time high wheat procurement has ended in all parts of the country barring Bihar with state run agencies purchasing almost 23 million tonne(MT) from farmers.
The government owned agencies like Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state agencies have been aggressively procuring wheat during the ongoing rabi marketing session since last two months.
According to a FCI official, a record 22.4 MT of wheat has already been procured till Monday. This procurement is more than the double of what government agencies could procure last year. Last month, the ministry of agriculture had announced that the procurement of wheat by government agencies including FCI will continue as long as farmers offer wheat at the MSP of Rs 1,000 per quintal.
During 2007-08, the procurement of wheat was only 11.13 MT. ?Bihar is still contributing to the wheat procurement process and we hope to close procurement over the next few weeks,? a FCI official told FE. The government had earlier set a procurement target of 15 MT for the current year for ensuring enough wheat for the buffer stock and Public Distribution System (PDS). The record wheat procurement follows after two years of short-fall forcing the government to import wheat.
India had imported more than 1.8 MT of wheat during 2006 – 07 as it could only procure about 11 MT against the target of 15 million tonne.