The government had 57.84 million tonnes of wheat and rice in its godowns at the beginning of this month, which is 81 per cent more than the buffer norm.
As per the norm, the government should have had 31.9 million tonnes of wheat and rice in its buffer stock as on July 1.
This includes five million tonnes of strategic reserves. The Centre has created a strategic reserve of three million tonnes of wheat and two million tonnes of rice, over and above the normal buffer requirement.
The Food Corporation of India, the nodal agency for foodgrain procurement and distribution, had 24.26 million tonnes of rice in the Central pool as on July 1, against the buffer norm of 11.8 million tonnes on the same date.
FCI had 33.58 million tonnes of wheat at the start of the month, against the buffer requirement of 20.1 million tonnes as on July 1.
The government has a huge stock due to record procurement of wheat and rice last year, and bumper purchase so far. FCI had procured a record 25.3 million tonnes of wheat last year.
This year, it has bought 22.5 million tonnes so far. In case of rice, the procurement stood at a record 33.6 million tonnes in the 2008-09 marketing year (October-September).
In the current marketing year, the procurement has touched 29.6 million tonnes. In the 2009-10 crop year (July-June), India produced a record 80.98 million tonnes of wheat. However, the rice output declined to 89.31 million tonnes due to last year's drought.
