Record procurement and distribution of millets planned for 2023-24

Posted on by

The Federal Food Ministry said in a statement that a comprehensive strategy to increase purchases of coarse grains was discussed and formulated at a conference of state food ministers on Wednesday. Accordingly, it is estimated that a total of 26.14 thousand tons of coarse grains will be purchased in the 2023-2024 Khareef Marketing Season (KMS) from October 1. And the expected distribution is 22.31 litres.

“This strategic focus on coarse grains/millet reflects a broader objective of enhancing the food security of beneficiaries,” the report states.

Food and Public Distribution Minister Piyush Goyal appreciated the efforts of the state governments to procure and distribute food grains and said that all states should work with the center in a spirit of cooperative federalism.

Pending claims

He urged all states to bring their outstanding dues claims with the Union Government expeditiously so that they could be settled as soon as possible.

The scale of reforms in the purchase of food grains is the key to providing food security and stabilizing domestic prices of food grains.

Goyal also launched a new sugar ethanol portal, where plants will be made to provide returns on production and sales data regularly.

A demonstration of the “Annaporte” automatic multi-commodity grain dispensing machine developed by the United Nations World Food Program (UN-WFP) and the automatic grain analyzers developed for automated grain quality inspection were given at the conference.

Among other topics, classification of buying centers to ensure uniformity and quality, effective implementation of Pradhan Mantri Garip Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), implementation of SMART-PDS scheme for end-to-end computerization of purchasing and distribution of food grains, and shift from Fair Price Stores (FPS).

An action plan was also discussed to implement a road improvement study to reduce the distance involved in distribution within the country, and to diversify the food basket through the distribution of coarse grains / millet.