New Delhi: Due to the ongoing geopolitical unrest, there was a decrease in wheat procurement, its minimum support price (MSP) to farmers, and the number of farmers receiving the minimum price in the Rabi marketing season of 2022–2023.

Official sources claim that compared to the 2021–22 season, wheat procurement in the current 2022–23 season decreased by 56.64 percent.

Only 187.92 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of wheat were purchased during the 2022–23 Rabi season, a decrease of 56.64 percent from the 433.44 LMT purchased during the previous year.

Similar to this, farmers received MSP worth Rs 37,865 crore in the current Rabi season of 2022–23, which is 55.76% less than the MSP worth Rs 85,604 crore that was provided in 2021–22.

As a result, during the current Rabi season, there were fewer farmers who benefited from it due to decreased purchases.

Only 17.83 farmers could profit from increased wheat procurement in 2022–23, compared to 49.20 lakh farmers in 2021–22.

Sources noted that decreased wheat purchases during the Rabi season of 2022–2023 were a result of increased market prices as well as a mismatch between supply and demand caused by the ongoing geopolitical crisis resulting from the war in Russia and Ukraine.

They further mentioned that nationwide during the procurement period, the market price remained consistently higher than the MSP.

According to sources, this would enable farmers to receive greater compensation for their output. According to observers, the next Rabi season should see typical wheat output and procurement due to the relatively decent rainfall conditions.