The Food Corporation of India (FCI) has successfully procured 266 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT) of wheat during the current Rabi Marketing Season (RMS) 2024-25, the union government said on Wednesday.

Notably, this figure surpassed last year’s figure of 262 LMT and secured the nation’s food grain sufficiency.

Over 22 lakh Indian farmers have benefited towards purchase of wheat during RMS 2024-25. About Rs 61 lakh crore have been directly credited to the bank accounts of these farmers immediately on purchase of wheat at Minimum Support Price (MSP), the Ministry of Food said in a statement.

It said that as per the provisional figures collected from various wheat-procuring states, the total wheat procurement during RMS 2024-25 stands at 266 LMT, exceeding RMS 2023-24 figure of 262 LMT and the 188 LMT recorded during RMS 2022-2023.

The states of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan have shown significant improvements in their wheat procurement quantities. Uttar Pradesh has recorded a procurement of 9.31 LMT compared to 2.20 LMT last year, while Rajasthan has achieved 12.06 LMT, up from 4.38 LMT in the previous season, it added.

The substantial quantity of wheat procurement has helped FCI to ensure a steady flow of food grains into the Public Distribution System (PDS). This entire procurement process has been pivotal in meeting the annual requirement of approximately 184 LMT of wheat under various welfare schemes, including PMGKAY.

It is to be highlighted that the government declared an MSP of Rs 2275 per quintal for wheat for RMS 2024-25.

In addition to wheat, during the Kharif Marketing Season 2023-24, paddy procurement for the central pool exceeded 775 LMT, benefiting more than one crore farmers by way of disbursement of more than Rs. 1.74 lakh crore to the bank accounts of these farmers towards purchase of their paddy at MSP, the ministry of food said.

With this, the current procurement of paddy has increased the central pool rice stock to over 490 LMT, including 160 LMT of rice yet to be received after milling. The annual rice requirement is around 400 LMT, while buffer norms prescribed by the Government of India for 1st of July is 135 LMT.

With the current stock level of rice, the country exceeds not only its buffer stock norms but also its entire annual requirement. Besides procurement under the next Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2024-25 is also likely to begin in October 2024.