NEW DELHI: The Centre has increased the wheat procurement target to 345 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) amid concerns over lower wheat production caused by higher temperatures, unseasonal rainfall, and hailstorms.
Additionally, the government plans to introduce QR codes on wheat bags to track their movement and combat corruption. The previous target for wheat procurement was set at 300 LMT.
“Following requests from several state governments to raise their procurement targets, we decided to increase the overall procurement,” said Sanjeev Chopra, Secretary of the Department of Food and Public Distribution. So far, the government has procured 164 LMT of wheat.
The revised procurement estimates for Madhya Pradesh have increased from 78 LMT to 100 LMT, and for Uttar Pradesh, the target has gone up from 10 LMT to 25 LMT. Bihar’s target has been adjusted from 0.18 LMT to 1.8 LMT, and Rajasthan’s target has increased from 21 LMT to 25 LMT. The procurement estimates for Punjab and Haryana will remain the same as last year.
Notably, the government has decided to procure wheat from Delhi for the first time in four years. The government also has relaxed grain specifications for farmers.
Chopra emphasised that the current situation resembles that of 2021-22, when an early heatwave negatively impacted crop production. “In 2021-22, procurement was 188 LMT, followed by 240 LMT, then 260 LMT, and last year it reached 300 LMT. This increase was made possible by our early preparations for rabi procurement,” he said.
Initially, the government had set a production target of around 1200 LMT.
“After assessing the impact of weather disturbances, we now estimate production will be between 1150 and 1160 LMT,” Chopra noted.
Chopra also presented a report from the private agency Agriwatch, which indicated that unseasonal rain and hailstorms in March and April have damaged over 50 LMT of wheat across 142 of the 220 surveyed wheat-producing districts in the country. Agriwatch estimates the total production loss at 50 LMT, yielding a revised production figure of 1106 LMT.
To address allegations that previously procured wheat is recycled and sold as fresh, the government aims to enhance the tracking of wheat procurement. In 2025, a pilot project was initiated in Andhra Pradesh to monitor the recycling of paddy.
“For the first time, the government will affix QR codes to wheat bags, which will include the cost sheet number and the subsidy provided by the Centre to states, to facilitate tracking in major states,” Chopra added.