Wheat Procurement Target Set at 31 mn ton for 2025-26

New Delhi, Feb 28 (PTI) The government on Friday fixed a wheat procurement target of 31 million tonne for the 2025-26 rabi marketing season beginning April.

The lower procurement target comes despite the agriculture ministry aiming for a record wheat production of 115 million tonne in the 2024-25 crop year (July-June).

The procurement target for rabi crops like wheat, paddy and coarse grains was fixed in a meeting with state food secretaries held on Friday here, an official statement said.

After deliberations, the wheat procurement target was fixed at 31 million tonne, rice at 7 million tonne and coarse grains at 1.6 million tonne for the ensuing 2025-26 marketing season.

The states were asked to take proactive steps to maximise procurement of wheat and rice in the ensuing marketing season. The states were also asked to focus on the procurement of millet to encourage the diversification of crops and enhanced nutrition in dietary patterns.

For the 2025-26 rabi marketing season starting April, the minimum support price for wheat has been fixed at Rs 2,425 per quintal.

The Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state agencies conduct wheat procurement to ensure farmers receive minimum support prices and meet welfare scheme requirements.

In 2024-25, the government wheat procurement reached 26.6 million tonne against a target of 30-32 million tonne. While this exceeded the 26.2 million tonne procured in 2023-24, it fell short of that year's 34.15 million tonne target.

In the meeting, several other initiatives related to the public distribution system and Jan Poshan Kendras were discussed.

The meeting was attended by food secretaries of various states and Union territories, senior officials from the FCI, Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA), India Meteorological Department and the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare.