Food Corporation of India (FCI) and other state agencies have until now done a commendable work in procuring 21.6 million metric tonnes of wheat as of May 6, 2020 for the Rabi season. Procurement target of the season for wheat is 40 million metric tonnes, thus 54% of the target has been achieved in spite of late start of procurement due to lockdown. Food grains procurement started only after April 15 in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
Until recently, Punjab has procured 10.43 million metric tonnes of wheat, Haryana has procured 5.06 million metric tonnes and Madhya Pradesh has procured 4.87 million metric tonnes. Wheat procurement has also begun in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh and it is expected to gain momentum. Lockdown in the country has resulted in slow harvesting of wheat as availability of labourer and transport facilities remained major issues. Unseasonal rains over the major wheat growing regions during harvesting period has resulted in crop losses and also increased moisture in the harvested produce. Government of India helped farmers by relaxing the procurement specifications which helped the farmers and also enhanced procurement.
Paddy procurement during the Rabi season has reached 4.49 million metric tonnes. The major contribution has been from Telangana where 3 million metric tonnes of paddy has been procured. Recent commissioning of large irrigation projects have resulted in increased production of paddy in the state. In Andhra Pradesh paddy procurement has reached 1 million metric tonnes.
