By IANS,
Chandigarh : A day after Punjab announced it was headed for a record procurement and bumper wheat crop, the Haryana government Tuesday said a new record for wheat procurement had been set in the state as well.
The government agencies in Haryana procured nearly 4.27 million tonnes of wheat till Monday evening.
The figure achieved this season is much more than the total procurement last year of 3.35 million tonnes of wheat
The centre had fixed a procurement target of 4 million tonnes for Haryana this year and the state has already crossed that figure.
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda Tuesday urged union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to arrange more railway rakes for Haryana as procurement there was expected to cross 5.2 million tonnes this year.
Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Chander Mohan, who holds the food and supplies portfolio, said 4.29 million tonnes of wheat had already arrived in 362 grain markets across the state till Monday evening.
The total arrival last year during the entire season in Haryana was 3.73 million tonnes.
Punjab announced Monday that nearly 7 million tonnes of wheat had been procured in the state this season. This figure was higher than the entire procurement of over 6.9 million tonnes of wheat last year.
Though the procurement process started this year April 1, much of the wheat arrival in Haryana and Punjab started after April 13 Baisakhi day. The procurement season is expected to last beyond May 15.
“Wheat procured by the six government agencies in Haryana this year is already 21 percent more than the entire procurement of last year and 1.61 million tonnes more of wheat has already arrived in grain markets this year,” Chander Mohan said here.
The six government agencies – Food Corp of India (FCI) from the centre and five from the Haryana government – are this season offering a minimum support price (MSP) of Rs.1,000 per quintal for wheat to farmers.
The purchase by private traders from grain markets is about one percent of the total wheat arrival.
Both Hooda and Mohan complimented farmers of the state for achieving a record wheat production this year.