300 lakh MT of wheat to be procured during Rabi Marketing Season 2016-17

In the conference of the Food Secretaries of the States held here today under the Chairpersonship of Ms. Vrinda Sarup, Secretary (Food), Government of India, the prospects of production of wheat and procurement targets for Rabi Marketing Season (RMS) 2016-17 were discussed.

In consultation with the States, it was decided to procure 300 lakh MT of wheat during RMS 2016-17, which is the same as was for the last season. The actual procurement of wheat during RMS 2015-16 was 280.88 lakh MT, inspite of wheat crop getting affected due to untimely rains and hailstorms during last March-April.

The State-wise break-up of the target of wheat procurement during RMS 2016-17 is as follows:

Sno	state	Target for Wheat Procurement (lakh MT)
1	Punjab	110.00
2	Haryana	65.00
3	Madhya Pradesh	68.00
4	Uttar Pradesh	30.00
5	Rajasthan	18.00
6	Bihar	7.00
7	Uttarakhand	1.00
8	Gujarat	0.85
9	Other States	0.15
Total		300.00

In the Conference, the targets for procurement of paddy grown in Rabi/ Winter/ Summer crop of Kharif Marketing Season 2015-16 for various States were also set in terms of rice. The target is 50 lakh MT with State-wise break-up given below. This target is over and above the target of 300 lakh MT set for Kharif crop of paddy for KMS 2015-16, for which the procurement operations are going on and by last week the paddy procurement in KMS 2015-16 in terms of rice has already reached to the level of 261.38 lakh MT, which is nearly 47 lakh MT higher than the procurement of 215.49 lakh MT by the corresponding week in previous year, i.e., KMS 2014-15.

Targets for paddy procurement in terms of Rice for winter/ summer Crop in KMS 2015-16

Sno	state	Target for Paddy Procurement in terms of Rice (lakh MT)
1	Andhra Pradesh	16.70
2	Telangana	6.30
3	Odisha	8.00
4	Tamil Nadu	9.50
5	Kerala	2.70
6	West Bengal	6.80
Total		50.00