Government targets 30 million tonnes wheat procurement in 2015-16

The government has fixed wheat procurement target for the rabi marketing season 2015-16 at 30.06 million tonnes against the actual procurement of 28.02 million tonnes during the 2014-15 rabi season.

The target was fixed at the meeting of state food secretaries held to discuss procurement arrangements on Monday. The meeting was chaired by Sudhir Kumar, union secretary of food and public distribution.

The government has also fixed target for overall rice procurement for kharif marketing season 2014-15 at 35.11 million tonnes, which include 30.05 million tonnes for kharif crop and 5.06 million tonnes for rabi crop. The actual procurement of rice during the 2013-14 and 2014-15 kharif seasons so far has been 31.84 million tonnes and 20.74 million tonnes, respectively.

Procurement estimates of main wheat growing states as reported are Punjab - 12 million tonnes, Haryana - 7 million tonnes, Madhya Pradesh - 6 million tonnes, Uttar Pradesh - 3 million tonnes and Rajasthan - 1.8 million tonnes.

Rice procurement for rabi crop during KMS 2014-15 of main rice growing states during the season are Odisha - 6.70 lakh tonnes, West Bengal - 9.15 lakh tonnes, Telangana - 1.47 million tonnes, Tamil Nadu 1 million tonnes and Andhra Pradesh - 1 million tonnes.