Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in a letter has urged Union Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar to order movement of at least 1.5 lakh tonne of the foodgrain to destinations outside the state to make space for further procurement by the state government.
Kumar said Bihar had procured a record 3.06 lakh tonne of wheat so far this year and FCI godowns were facing a major storage crisis.
"In our efforts to increase procurement and to ensure that farmers are benefited by the minimum support price, the procured wheat stocks need to be moved out of the FCI godowns to make storage space for further procurement," he said in his letter made available to the press.
The state government, he said, had also financially supported procurement efforts by giving an additional bonus of Rs 25 on every quintal of wheat procured with effect from May 14, 2008.
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"This encouragement has actually accelerated the pace of procurement", he said.
Bihar broke its previous wheat procurement record of 48,000 tonne in 2001-02 by procuring 3.06 lakh tonne this year so far.