Wheat figures surpass last year's total procurement

FCI, state agencies purchase 22.81 mt compared to  22.51 mt last season

India’s annual wheat procurement in the first five weeks of 2011-12 season, which surpassed last year’s total procurement, has two interesting changes from the previous seasons.

This year, procurements from Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, which are traditionally not big grain contributors to the central pool, have seen a quantum jump. Moreover, Madhya Pradesh has emerged as the third major state, after Punjab and Haryana, in terms of contribution.

Official data shows Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state agencies have procured 46,310 tonnes in Gujarat till Wednesday. This is a huge rise on the 624 tonnes purchased in 2010-2011.

Procurement in Madhya Pradesh was 3.60 million tonnes (mt), marginally up from last year’s 3.53 mt. In Rajasthan, procurement at 0.79 mt was almost 68% more than last year. Across the country, FCI and state agencies have purchased 22.81 mt of wheat while purchases during entire 2010-2011 procurement season was around 22.51 mt.

Officials said a bumper wheat harvest, tipped to top the agriculture ministry’s third advanced estimate of 84.27 mt and a bonus of Rs 50 per quintal has pushed up procurement across the country. The government announced the bonus last month over and above the minimum support price of Rs 1,120 per quintal to incentivise purchases.

FCI’s procurement this year is also very close to the target fixed for this year which is 26 mt by state agencies. Last year, purchases were 21.36 mt during the same time, almost 1.44 mt less than this year.

In Punjab, 10.54 mt wheat was purchased, almost 3.33 per cent more than last year. Procurement in Haryana was 6.59 million tonnes, up 3.94 per cent from last year.

Punjab and Haryana contribute almost 80 per cent of wheat to the central pool. A big let-down has been decentralised procurement, wherein the state governments purchase grain on behalf of FCI and distribute it through fair price shops. Officials said poor storage facilities in these states along with inefficient state administration has lead to a slowdown in purchases.

In Uttar Pradesh, one of the biggest wheat producing states, procurement of 1.14 mt wheat is 30.48 per cent less than last year. In Bihar, state agencies procured 29,470 tonnes of wheat, down almost 84 per cent from the same period last year.