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The government's wheat procurement this year might fall short of the initial target of 30 million tonnes (mt) due to the crop damage after a recent spell of unseasonal rain and hail.
Wheat procurement is underway. A total of 5.93 mt has been procured so far in the ongoing 2015-16 marketing year (April-March).
Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha, said relaxation in wheat quality norms might mitigate the impact on procurement.
After assessing the quality of wheat samples, Paswan said the Centre had relaxed the quality specification of wheat procurement in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Chandigarh. Last year, the government had procured 28 mt of wheat from farmers.
Of the total target of 30 mt set for this year, Punjab's share has been fixed at 12 mt and Haryana at seven mt, Madhya Pradesh at 6 MT and Uttar Pradesh at 3 MT.
Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state agencies procure wheat at the support price.
In a separate reply, Paswan said that the Centre has a food grain stock of 41 MT, which is double the buffer norm as on April 1.
"There will no shortage of food grains to meet the demand against the allotment of 53.41 MT of food grains for public distribution system/ food security act and other welfare schemes in 2015-16," Paswan said.
In 2014-15, about 61.39 MT of food grains was kept aside to meet the requirement of the PDS and other welfare schemes, while off take was 55.23 MT.
In another reply, Paswan said the government is not considering any proposal to export wheat during current year.
During the 2012-14 period, the government had exported nearly 5.8 million tonnes of wheat from the central pool.
Wheat production is likely to fall by 4-5 per cent from the initial estimates of 95.76 MT in 2014-15 crop year (July-June) due to unseasonal rains.
