Zero procurement of Rabi crops in Delhi since 2016-17 by FCI at MSP: Study

There has been zero procurement of Rabi crops in Delhi since 2016-17 by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) at the minimum support price, said a research study conducted by the planning department under the Delhi government.

Procurement has been “abysmally low” in general and gone down to nil since 2016-17, said the study, recently released in the public domain. The procurement of Rabi crops (mainly wheat) was 4,763 metric tonne (MT) in 2011-12 and 13,524 MT in 2012-13 at Narela Mandi. It was 3,268 MT in 2011-12 and 17,071 MT in 2012-13 at Najafgarh Mandi, the study said, citing data sourced from FCI Regional Office here.

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There was no procurement at the Food Storage Depots at Narela and Mayapuri. There was a meagre 18 MT procurement at Najafgarh Mandi only in 2013-14. In 20115-16, procurement was 116 MT at Narela and 1,671 MT at Najafgarh Mandi. Afterwards, from 2016-17 to 2020-21, procurement has been nil, the study noted. “The Minimum Support Prices (MSP) offer a big reassurance to the farmers in terms of prices they would realise for their crops even in the worst market price scenario. The fact that no procurement is being done by FCI at MSP comes as an additional blow to the farmers,” it said.

There are a total of 8 Agricultural Price and Marketing Committees (APMC) in Delhi for marketing of foodgrains, fruits and vegetables, fodder and flowers. Out of these, two at Narela and Najafgarh are more established ones, where farmers sell their foodgrains and are operational round the year. Rabi is the major production season in Delhi, when wheat covers the highest area under cultivation, said the report.

Delhi has a total of 20,190 operational holdings, including 38 per cent in the South West district and 31 per cent in the North district. The remaining is scattered in other parts of the capital. The average size of holdings in these two main agricultural districts is 4.1 acre and 2.9 acre, respectively. The principal crop grown is wheat, which is cultivated in more than 67 per cent of the total operational area producing close to 83,000 tonnes of the crop. The other major crop is paddy with production of close to 17,000 tonnes, the report said.