Latest data on procurement shows that during the Modi years, there has been hardly any increase in the procurement of food grains. While wheat and rice procurement by the government has increased marginally from about 32-33% to 36-37% of the production of these two staples, coarse grains, pulses and oilseeds remain out of the ambit of any serious procurement. This directly means that the announcement of MSPs for these categories of food grains remains a paper exercise and farmers are forced to sell the produce at unremunerative prices.
Let us start with wheat and rice, the two main cereals grown and consumed in the country. Production data from the ministry of agriculture when compared to the procurement data as revealed by the department of food and public distribution shows that in 2020-21, about 37% of rice and 36% of wheat was procured by the government. [See graph below] This was a small increase from 33% rice and 32% wheat procurement in 2015-16. As is well known, the bulk of this procurement happens in Punjab and Haryana, and in recent years, from Madhya Pradesh too.
Most farmers in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and elsewhere thus do not get their wheat or rice procured by the government. Hence, they do not get minimum support prices too.
The picture is even more dire in the case of other food grains. In 2020-21, an abysmal 9% of pulses were produced, and just 1.4% of coarse grains were procured by the government.
— source newsclick.in | Subodh Varma | 02 Dec 2021
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