New Delhi: The Ministry of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, on 15th May, ordered the continuation of wheat procurement in 232 Mandis in the state until 31st May 2022. The announcement was made amid requests by the states and the UTs to continue the procurement process. Wheat procurement was scheduled to end on 10 May in Rajasthan and on 15 May in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
The ministry said, “it has been decided that all respective states/UTs and FCI may continue with wheat procurement and farmers can sell their wheat to the state/FCI at MSP as per the specifications, under the central pool.”
It further informed that the wheat procurement under the central pool for the Rabi Marketing Season 2022-23 was going smooth, Until May 14th, 180 LMT of wheat has been procured, which has benefited about 16.83 lakh farmers with an MSP value of Rs 36,208 crore.
Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted saying, “To ensure that no wheat farmer faces inconvenience, Modi Sarkar extends wheat procurement season till 31 May 2022. We are committed to ensuring farm prosperity.”
Sharing the details with the media, the Food Minister said- the ban on export is likely to result in a dip in the prices of wheat in the domestic market. As a result, some farmers who had stored the wheat produce, in anticipation of fetching higher prices later, might have a rethink now and opt to sell the wheat”.
Earlier on May 13th, the centre had restricted the export of wheat to rein in high prices of wheat, except in case of an irrevocable letter of credit and requests from neighbouring/food-deficit countries.