Team Blitz India
NEW DELHI: The procurement of wheat has crossed the minimum threshold quantity required to cater to all welfare schemes and according to authorities they were on course to achieve grain-stocking targets for 2024. The Government distributes free grains to nearly 800 million beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act.
“Wheat procurement is going on smoothly. Our requirement for all welfare schemes, including Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, is about 18.4 million tonnes-18.6 million tonnes. Currently, total procurement has reached 19.6 million tonnes. This is a very favourable level of procurement compared to our operational requirement,” FCI chief Ashok KK Meena said. To allow farmers sufficient time to sell to the Government, procurement will be open beyond May, he said. “We are on track to meet the wheat procurement estimate,” he added.
The FCI chief said the government also had 53 million tonnes of rice (including 21 million tonnes of unmilled paddy), nearly four times the buffer requirement of 13.5 million tonnes as on April 1.
Sufficient procurement is critical this year to help India, also the world’s second biggest wheat consumer, replenish depleted stocks, which have hit a 16-year-low.
