Govt pegs wheat procurement at record 444 lakh tonnes in 2022-23 mkt year

New Delhi.The government has estimated procurement of a record 444 lakh
tonnes of wheat in the 2022-23 marketing year starting April.
According to an official statement,Union Food Secretary chaired a
meeting of state food secretaries and Food Corporation of India (FCI)
through video conference to discuss the procurement arrangements for ensuing
Rabi Marketing Season (RMS) 2022-23 and Rabi crop of Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2021-22.
The rabi marketing season (RMS) runs from April to March. The 2021-22 Kharif
Marketing Season started in October 2021 and will run till September this
year.
“A quantity of 444 lakh tonnes of wheat has been estimated for procurement
during the forthcoming RMS 2022-23, which is more than procurement
estimate of previous year RMS 2021-22,” the statement said

During the Rabi Marketing Season 2021-22, FCI procured an all-time high
433.44 lakh tonnes of wheat, an 11 per cent increase over the previous year

The government has also estimated that 42.92 lakh tonnes of rice (rabi crop)
may be procured during the forthcoming rabi crop of current KMS 2021-22
from seven states.
The estimate of procurement of rice (rabi crop) from state governments of
Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Telangana is awaited.
During the meeting, promotion of coarse grains, implementation of minimum
threshold parameters for online procurement operations, supply of jute bags
and packaging material, storage space, improving efiiciency and transparency
in procurement operations and online settlement of food subsidy claims were
also discussed.PTI