“Procurement of wheat has already started in all wheat producing states except Gujarat, where it will start from May. The purchase of rice has also been started in major producing states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The procurement in other states like Maharshtra, West Bengal and Odisha will start from May,” said a food ministry official.
He said that as per the projections given by states, the production of wheat is likely to be 118.4 million tonnes while out of winter rice is likely to be 16.68 million tonnes.
“The projections are more than the second advance estimate of the crop production which estimates wheat output to be 106.21 million tonnes while Rabi rice to be 15.53 million tonnes,” he said.
The official said that the procurement has progressed well with all kinds of precautions and sanitisation in mandis.
“Farmers have been given coupons and they are being called in separate groups to decongest the mandis,” he said.
According to food ministry, Punjab is expected to contribute 13.5 million tonnes of wheat, Haryana 9.5 million tonnes, Madhya Pradesh 10 million tonnes followed by Uttar Pradesh, which would contribute 5.5 million tonnes to the central pool.
In case of Rabi rice, Telangana is likely to contribute 6.19 million tonnes followed Andhra and Odisha which are expected to contribute 2.19 million tonnes and 0.95 million tonnes respectively to the central pool.
