Procurement of wheat from farmers by Government agencies has touched an all-time record figure on 16.06.2020, when total procurement for the Central pool reached 382 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT) surpassing the earlier record of 381.48 LMT achieved during 2012-13. This has been accomplished during the trying times of Covid-19 pandemic when the whole country was under lockdown.
The commencement of procurement was delayed by a fortnight due to the first lockdown and was kicked off only from 15th April in most of the wheat surplus states as against the standard 1st April. Extraordinary efforts have been made by state governments and all government procuring agencies led by Food Corporation of India (FCI) to ensure that wheat is procured from farmers without any delay and in a safe manner. The number of purchase centers was increased from 14,838 to 21,869 this year by opening procurement centers in all possible locations, in addition to traditional mandis.
This year Madhya Pradesh became the largest contributor to Central pool with 129 LMT wheat, surpassing Punjab which procured 127 LMT. Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan also made significant contributions to the national procurement of wheat. All over India, 42 Lakh farmers have been benefitted and a total amount of about Rs. 73,500 crore has been paid to them towards Minimum Support Price for wheat. The hefty inflow of food grains into Central pool ensured that FCI is ready to meet any additional requirement of food grains for the people of the country in coming months.
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