Despite record domestic production, there is a marginal increase in government procurement of wheat.
05-Jun-2024 05:03 PM
New Delhi. In its third advance estimate, the Union Agriculture Ministry has expressed the possibility of domestic production of wheat increasing to an all-time high of 1129.25 lakh tonnes in the Rabi season of 2023-24, which is 9.05 lakh tonnes more than the production figure of 1120.20 lakh tonnes in the second advance estimate and 23.71 lakh tonnes more than the estimated production of 1105.54 lakh tonnes of 2022-23 season. The harvesting and preparation of wheat crop has ended.
Despite record production, there has been a marginal increase of 2-3 lakh tonnes in government procurement of wheat and now the procurement process in Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh has either completely or almost stopped. It is known that these three states contribute the most wheat to the central pool.
As far as Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan are concerned, wheat procurement there is also happening at a snail's pace. Most of the procurement centres are deserted as farmers are not unloading their grain there.
In Uttar Pradesh, traders were asked to stay away from wheat procurement till government procurement continues and flour millers were asked to procure it in limited quantities only to meet immediate needs.
Its objective was to ensure procurement of maximum quantity of wheat for the central pool. But the government could not get the desired success in this. In the country's most prominent producer state- Uttar Pradesh, a government procurement target of 60 lakh tonnes of wheat has been set this year, but it has not even reached 10 lakh tonnes.
In Punjab-Haryana, a target of procurement of 210 lakh tonnes of wheat was set with 130 lakh tonnes and 80 lakh tonnes respectively, while the total actual procurement was a little more than 195 lakh tonnes.
Although the procurement figures in both these states are also behind the set target, the situation can still be considered satisfactory.
The situation is disappointing in Madhya Pradesh where the actual procurement of wheat has not even reached 50 lakh tonnes against the set target of 80 lakh tonnes.
Low arrivals and disappointing purchases in the markets indicate that this time the domestic production of wheat has been much less than the government's estimate.