-The Hindustan Times The government on Monday admitted a mismatch between wheat procurement and storage and said efforts were on to ease pressure on go-downs by encouraging exports and providing foodgrain to MNREGA workers as part of wages. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s brief statement on farmers’ light in the Lok Sabha during the zero hour came in response to vociferous protests by many political parties on the plight of farmers due...

-PTI Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that every single grain of wheat would be purchased from the farmers in the state under the wheat procurement process.  The farmers should maintain calm without getting misled by any wrong propaganda, the Chief Minister said adding that the remaining farmers will be registered within three days and the wheat would be purchased from them.  Chouhan said this while addressing the commissioners and...

-The Times of India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to discuss the foodgrain storage and crop situation with food minister K V Thomas and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday amid news of a bumper harvest this year and overflowing granaries.  The meeting, slated for Monday, was postponed, and is likely to discuss options before the government to offload the grains in the central pool that are expected to reach record...

-The Hindu Chauhan sees injustice in FCI failure to lift quota Madhya Pradesh has had a bumper wheat harvest this rabi season, so much so the State does not have enough gunny sacks to pack the procured produce. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan on Wednesday called on Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution K.V. Thomas in New Delhi and complained of the shortage. Mr. Thomas assured him that...

Rice, wheat production seen at highest ever, but other commodities show a decline from previous year’s harvest The government estimated a record high foodgrain crop for the 2011-12 crop year that ends in June, driven mainly by higher output of rice and wheat, but experts said prices are likely to remain firm and keep inflation at around 7%. The likelihood that the government will increase the minimum prices it guarantees farmers for...