Chandigarh, April 17 (IANS) With stocks arriving in grain markets after the harvest festival of Baisakhi April 13, procurement of wheat in Haryana and Punjab has already crossed the 25 lakh-tonne mark, food and supplies officials of both states said Wednesday.
Punjab and Haryana have set a record procurement target of 140 lakh tonne and 90 lakh tonne, respectively.
Agriculture department officials in both states said a bumper crop was expected this year.
In Haryana, over 18.65 lakh tonne of wheat has arrived in the current procurement season, officials said. Karnal, Kaithal and Kurukshetra led in procurement among all districts in the state.
In Punjab, over 7.23 lakh tonne of wheat had arrived till Tuesday evening, food and supplies officials said. Patiala, Sangrur and Ludhiana districts were leading in procurement in the state.
The Punjab government has set up over 1,750 procurement centres.
Targeting a record procurement of over 140 lakh tonne this season, the Punjab government has set aside Rs.18,998 crore for wheat procurement this season.
The minimum support price (MSP) for wheat has been fixed at Rs.1,350 per quintal this time.
In 2012, Punjab had procured a record 129.35 lakh tonne of wheat.
Punjab is the biggest contributor (over 60 percent) of food grain to the national kitty despite having just 1.54 percent of the country's geographical area.
