Centre aims to procure 2.6 million tonnes millets in next Kharif marketing season
1 min read 05 Jul 2023, 08:03 PM ISTA comprehensive strategy to increase the procurement of coarse grains was discussed and formulated during a conference of all states’ and union territories’ ministers under the chairmanship of Union food minister Piyush Goyal
PremiumThe Centre aims to procure 2.6 million tonnes (mt) coarse grains or millets in the coming 2023-24 Kharif marketing season and distribute 2.2 mt.
A comprehensive strategy to increase the procurement of coarse grains was discussed and formulated during a conference of all states’ and union territories’ ministers under the chairmanship of Union food minister Piyush Goyal in New Delhi today.
“This strategic focus on coarse grains or millets reflects a broader objective to strengthen the nutritional security of the beneficiaries. It is projected that a total of 26.14 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT) of coarse grains would be procured in Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2023-2024, while the expected distribution would be 22.31 LMT," an official statement said.
The food department highlighted the scale of, and reforms in, procurement process of foodgrains which is key to providing food security and stability to domestic prices of foodgrains.
A millet exhibition showcasing various millet products was held on the side-lines of the conference to promote consumption of the coarse grains.
Appreciating the efforts of the State and UT governments for procuring and distribution of foodgrains, Goyal said they should work together with the Centre in the spirit of cooperative federalism. He further requested all states and UTs to submit their pending claims on dues with the union government expeditiously so that they can be settled at the earliest.
During the conference, the union minister also launched a new Sugar-Ethanol portal.
A demonstration of the Automated Multi-Commodity Grain Dispensing Machine - ‘Annapurti’ developed by the UN World Food Programme (UN-WFP) and Automatic Grain Analyzers developed for automated quality checking of grains was conducted as part of the Conference.
Some of the other key topics that were discussed extensively in the conference includes grading of procurement centres to ensure uniformity and quality, effective implementation of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), implementation of the SMART–PDS scheme for end-to-end computerization of procurement and distribution of foodgrains, transformation of Fair Price Shops (FPS), action plan for the implementation of Route Optimization study to bring down the distance involved in intra-State distribution, diversification of food basket through distribution of millets, among others.
