Sufficient food grain stocks in central pool to meet requirements: Centre

The government of India has sufficient food grain stocks under the central pool to meet the requirement under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and its other welfare schemes as well as for additional allocation of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), an official statement said.

A press note from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution informed that about 159 LMT of wheat will be available on the 1 January 2023, which is well above the buffer norm requirement of 138 LMT on 1 January. Around 182 LMT of wheat is available in the central pool as on December 12.

It said that the Government of India is well aware of the price scenario of Wheat and is constantly monitoring it regularly on a weekly basis along with other commodities and taking corrective measures, as and when required. The government of India has taken proactive steps to ward off any further price rises and export regulations were imposed from 13.05.2022. Further, the allocations under NFSA and PMGKAY have also been revised in favour of rice for having sufficient Wheat stock in Central Pool to cater to the requirements of Welfare Schemes.

Press note informed that the Centre has enhanced the MSP of the Wheat crop this year to Rs. 2125/QTL against last year's MSP of Rs. 2015/QTL for RMS 2022-23. Thus, an increase in MSP of Rs. 110/QTL coupled with fairly good climatic conditions, it is expected that the production and procurement of Wheat during the next season shall remain normal. Procurement of Wheat next season would commence from April 2023 and as per initial assessment, there has been a modest increase in the sowing of the Wheat crops compared to last year.

The government of India has ensured that sufficient stock of food grains is available in the Central Pool to meet the requirement of all the Welfare Schemes across the country and prices remain under control.

It added that Though procurement of Wheat during last season was on the lower side due to lesser production coupled with selling by farmers at prices higher than MSP in the open market consequent to the geopolitical situation, enough stock of Wheat will still be available in Central Pool to cater to the needs of the country till the time next Wheat crop arrives.

( With inputs from ANI )