India's Wheat Procurement Exceeds Last Year’s Record in 2024

New Delhi: The government on Friday has revealed that wheat procurement for the 2024-25 marketing year is in full swing and it has crossed last year’s total procurement figure. The states that have contributed the highest wheat procurement are Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. “A total of 262.48 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) wheat was procured in the central pool, benefitting over 22.31 lakh farmers and providing minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 59,715 crore as well,” the government said in a statement.

Generally, wheat procurement normally runs from April to March, but the Centre this year allowed states to make purchases based on crop arrivals. In most states, the procurement began in early March. The government, however, has set a wheat procurement target of 300-320 million tonnes for the 2024-25 marketing year.

As per the statement, the major procuring states were Punjab with 124.26 LMT, Haryana with 71.49 LMT, Madhya Pradesh with 47.78 LMT, Rajasthan with 9.66 LMT and Uttar Pradesh with 9.07 LMT. “Similarly, rice procurement is also progressing smoothly, with 728.42 LMT of paddy, equivalent to 489.15 LMT of rice, procured directly from 98.26 lakh farmers at a MSP outflow of around Rs 1,60,472 crore,” it said

The combined stock of wheat and rice currently exceeds 600 LMT in the central pool, the government said, putting the country in a comfortable position to meet its foodgrain requirements under the PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana and other welfare schemes, as well as for market interventions.