Wheat

A 46% June rainfall deficit and El Nino-driven IMD forecast of 90% of long-period average has cotton and oilseed farmers in Maharashtra and Gujarat holding back planting

The FAO food index held near a three-year high in May; underneath, weather, fuel and fertilizer costs pushed all major grains higher

The Cabinet raised paddy MSP by Rs 72 to Rs 2,441 per quintal for kharif 2026, but SKM launched a protest cycle from May 27 demanding a statutory Swaminathan C2+50% guarantee; the Supreme Court issued notice in April on the legal-guarantee petition

PMGKAY's five-year extension locked in free grain for 813.5 million beneficiaries through December 2028; a CBDC food-token pilot launched in Puducherry in February 2026, and a draft NFSA amendment proposes shifting from household to per-person entitlements

The 2025-26 rabi season produced a record crop, procurement hit a four-year high, and February 2026 saw wheat exports permitted again for the first time since May 2022 as FCI stocks swelled to three times the buffer norm