Wheat procurement in Haryana crosses target, Punjab set to surpass

NEW DELHI: Wheat procurement in Harayana so far has crossed the target that the Central government set for the ongoing Rabi Marketing Season (RMS) while the procurement is set to surpass the target in Punjab in the next couple of days.
According to procurement figures of Food Corporation of India (FCI), till Saturday the overall procurement of wheat stood at 335 lakh tonnes compared to 237 lakh tonnes during the corresponding period last year, an increase of 41%.
The data show that while the government had set the target to procure 80 lakh tonnes of wheat, the total procurement till Saturday was around 81 lakh tonnes. In the case of Punjab, the total procurement so far stands at 128 lakh tonnes against the target of 130 lakh tonnes. However, the procurement in Madhya Pradesh has been hovering around 94 lakh tonnes compared to the target of 135 lakh tonnes.
During this year the estimated total procurement of wheat is 427 during the RMS and last year the total procurement was 390 lakh tonnes. Officials said they are confident of meeting the target during this season.
Sources said nearly 32.5 lakh farmers have been benefited from the ongoing RMS procurement operations with MSP value of more than Rs 65,000 crore. This year all the farmers are also getting the MSP directly in their accounts with the Punjab and government adopting direct benefit transfer of the amount.