Centre Reviews Foodgrain Procurement, PDS Reforms with States/UTs; Wheat Procurement Target for RMS 2026-27 Set at 303 LMT
Centre Reviews Foodgrain Procurement, PDS Reforms with States/UTs; Wheat Procurement Target for RMS 2026-27 Set at 303 LMT
Secretary, Department of Food & Public Distribution (DFPD), Government of India, chaired a meeting of State Food Secretaries on 06.03.2026 in New Delhi to discuss various issues pertaining to Department of Food and Public Distribution. The meeting was attended by Food Secretaries of various States/UTs as well as officers of the Food Corporation of India.
Various factors impacting procurement, public distribution and storage of food grains were reviewed during the meeting. After deliberations, the estimates for wheat procurement for the ensuing RMS 2026-27 have been fixed at 303 LMT. Similarly, the estimates for paddy procurement for KMS 2025-26 (Rabi Crop) have been fixed at 76 LMT, in terms of rice. A quantity of around 7.79 LMT of coarse grains including millets (Shri Anna) has also been estimated for procurement by the States during the KMS 2025-26 (Rabi crop). Allotment of sufficient packaging material of 7.83 lakh Jute bales & 9.22 Lakh bales HDPE bags has also been made for estimated procurement.
The Government has initiated a pilot in five States for the supply of improved rice with up to 10% broken grains. States have been requested to provide feedback on the implementation of the same.
A pilot to add QR code tags on foodgrain packaging material (bags) has been successfully completed in Andhra Pradesh with further pilots in other states in pipeline. “Anna Chakra” PDS supply chain optimization tool, Implementation of VLTS in states & integration of Anna Chakra tool with VLTS, Onboarding of godowns of state food civil supplies on Depot Darpan Portal and the implementation of Supply Chain Optimization in Public Distribution System of the States were discussed and the progress in states deliberated.
Besides, several other initiatives such as proposed reforms in Subsidy Claim Application for NFSA (SCAN), Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), Smart PDS & Sarthak PDS, use of AI led initiative-ASHA and infrastructure improvement in Procurement Centers etc were also discussed in the meeting.
State Governments shared good practices adopted in Foodgrain Management Systems in their respective States : Andhra Pradesh on Tagging of QR Code on Jute Bags and Auto-generation of Subsidy Bills, Chhattisgarh on the Use of Agristack for procurement and Gujarat shared its experience of Door step delivery at Fair Price shops by Verification of Vigilance committee members.