By IANS,
New Delhi : India’s wheat production has touched a record high of 78 million tonnes for 2007-08 against the third advanced estimate of 76.78 million tonnes.
“The wheat production for 2007-08 has gone up to 78 million tonnes. It is the highest figure in the past eight years,” Food Corporation of India (FCI) chairman and managing director Alok Sinha, told reporters on the margins of a function here Thursday.
India’s total wheat production in 1999-2000 was 74.25 million tonnes.
Sinha hoped wheat procurement would touch the 25 million tonne mark when further procurement is made; it was 22.02 million tonnes till June 12. Total procurement last year was 11.13 million tonnes.
An official press communiqué from the ministry of consumer affairs, food, and public distribution last Friday said government agencies procured 22.02 million tonnes.
A sharp increase in production means that India might not have to import wheat at all, as its requirement of wheat based on actual consumption is estimated to be 74.8 million tonnes by 2011-12.
The procurement done by the state-run FCI and other government agencies is seven million tonnes more than the government’s target of procuring 15 million tonnes of wheat this year.
A major chunk of wheat procurement was made in Punjab (9.9 million tonnes), followed by Haryana (5.2 million tonnes), Uttar Pradesh (2.8 million tonnes), Madhya Pradesh (2.3 million tonnes), and Rajasthan (0.9 million tonnes).
In 2006, India imported around 5.5 million tonnes of wheat through global tenders to meet a domestic procurement shortfall. Around 1.8 million tonnes was imported in 2007 as the state agencies failed to meet the demand for 15 million tonnes.