As you know, the government procures (buys) wheat and paddy (rice) from the farmers for distributing under the Public Distribution Scheme (PDS). We know this as the ration shop mechanism.
The government is the largest buyer of foodcrops in India.
Government procurement of wheat and paddy in this season is as under:
MT stands for metric tonnes.
Why is this procurement important?
The government buys food crops at the government announced Minimum Support Price (MSP). MSP is usually higher than the market price, so farmers try and sell to the government.
This year, because of various factors, the price of wheat in the open market was higher than the MSP.
For all other farmers, MSP ensures a fair price for their crop and ensures that they do not lose money.