Wheat procurement surpasses target

The Food Corporation of India (FCI), the designated Central agency to procure wheat for the Government, is expecting to procure about 180 lakh tonnes of wheat from the farmers by the end of the peak marketing season, which runs from April 1 to June 15.

“As of now, we have managed to procure 154.2 lakh tonnes of wheat, as against our target of 150 lakh tonnes. We are hopeful that procurement may reach about 180 lakh tonnes by the end of the season,” informed the FCI Chairman and Managing Director Alok Sinha in the Capital on Friday.

Procurement so far is well above the 111.2 lakh tonnes that Government procured from the farmers last year. This has forced the Government to import about 18 lakh tonnes of wheat to maintain sufficient buffer stock.

As against about 22 per cent of the total wheat arrival in mandis the private purchase this time has been only about 7 per cent. Higher quantities of wheat arrival along with reduced private purchase also assisted FCI in mopping up higher quantities this year.