Wheat harvesting begins in MP, Gujarat and Rajasthan
20-Mar-2025 06:52 PM
New Delhi. In states like Madhya Pradesh (MP), Gujarat and Rajasthan, the preparation for harvesting of early sown wheat crop has started sporadically, while its pace is expected to pick up in the coming time.
The process of harvesting the new crop will start in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in the next two weeks.
This time the central government is committed to buy maximum quantity of wheat from the farmers, while the price of this important food grain is still running higher than the minimum support price (MSP) in most of the mandis.
The Union Agriculture Ministry has estimated the domestic production of wheat to increase to an all-time high of 1154.30 lakh tonnes in the current Rabi season of 2024-25. According to official sources, the ministry's estimate is based on the average yield rate of wheat and the information given by the states about the sowing area.
At present, only the second advance estimate of the ministry has come out while two more estimates are to be released.
There may be a change in the wheat production figures in it. After harvesting the crop, the production estimate can be increased or decreased based on the information received about its average yield rate.
The government has started digital crop survey which will help in getting accurate information about the yield rate and production.
During the 2023-24 season, the Union Agriculture Ministry had estimated a record production of 1132.90 lakh tonnes of wheat, while flour millers had estimated the production between 1040 to 1060 lakh tonnes.
This time there has been a good increase in the sowing area of wheat and climate resistant varieties have been cultivated in a larger area, so there is a possibility of increase in production.
Surprisingly, despite the possibility of record production of more than 1154 lakh tonnes of wheat, the Food Ministry has set a target of procurement of only 310 lakh tonnes for the Rabi marketing season of the year 2025.
The reason for this may possibly be that the wholesale market price of wheat remains higher than the minimum support price (Rs 2425 per quintal).