Govt fixes wheat procurement target at 30 MT for 2016-17

Government today fixed the wheat procurement target at 30 million tonnes (MT) for 2016-17 marketing year as against 28.08 MT in the current year.
The target was fixed in the meeting of the state food secretaries held here today to discuss the prospects of wheat production and procurement targets for 2016-17 marketing year. The meeting was chaired by Food Secretary Vrinda Sarup.
"In consultation with states, it was decided to procure 30 MT of wheat during 2016-17," the Food Ministry said in a statement.
The actual procurement of wheat by the state-run Food Corporaton of India (FCI) in 2015-16 marketing year was 28.08 MT, in spite of wheat crop getting affected due to untimely rains and hailstorms during the March-April period last year, it said.

Out of total wheat procurement target for the 2016-17 marketing year (April-March), Punjab aims to procure maximum wheat at 11 MT, followed by Haryana 6.5 MT, Madhya Pradesh 6.8 MT, Uttar Pradesh 3 MT and Rajasthan 1.8 MT.
Although wheat marketing year runs from April-March, the bulk of procurement is done in the first three months.

The government also fixed target for rice procurement for 2015-16 marketing year (October-September) at 35 MT which includes 30 MT for kharif crop and 5 MT for rabi crop.
Already, the procurement of kharif rice has reached 26.13 MT so far this year, much higher than 21.54 MT in the year-ago period.

As per the second advance estimate of the Agriculture Ministry, rice production is estimated to be down marginally at 103.61 MT in 2015-16 crop year (July-June), as against 105.48 MT last year.
Wheat production is however expected to be higher at 93.82 MT as against 86.53 MT in the said period.