Mumbai: The government is considering a bonus over and above the minimum support price of Rs750 per quintal fixed for wheat amidst, what it feared, an aggressive buying by private trade from farmers.

The bonus, expected to be in the region of Rs25 to Rs50 per quintal, could push up the support price to Rs800 a quintal. The announcement comes after a meeting of the chairman of the Commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) T Haque had with agriculture minister Sharad Pawar.

"We are looking at all options including a marginal bonus on wheat MSP,'''' reports quoting official sources said.

The Food Corporation of India (FCI) is will start procurement of foodgrains on March 15. FCI officials are targeting 150 lakh tonnes of wheat procurement this year.

Last year, the government could procure only 91 lakh tones of wheat for PDS sales against the target of 162 lakh tonnes.

Lower procurement last year had forced the government to import about 55 lakh tonnes of the commodity, the first time in six years that the country had to buy the grain from overseas.

The procurement of wheat in marketing season 2007-08 is likely to be 151.5 lakh tons, minister of state for consumer affairs, food and public distribution, Akhilesh Prasad Singh said last week. This is based on the estimates given by the state food secretaries on February 12, during the meeting held to review arrangements for procurement of wheat in Rabi marketing season (RMS) 2007-08, he told the Rajya Sabha.

Since RMS 2007-08 will commence only after March 14, the procurement centres have not yet started working in the wheat procuring states, the minister said. However, in the meeting held on February 12, the state food secretaries and the FCI assured that sufficient number of procurement centres would be opened in all districts in states where there is marketable surplus of wheat, Singh said.

The state-wise target for wheat procurement is: Punjab (75 lakh tonnes), Haryana (45 lakh tonnes), Uttar Pradesh (15 lakh tonnes), Bihar (10 lakh tonnes), Madhya Pradesh (3 lakh tonnes), Rajasthan (2 lakh tonnes), Uttarakhand (1 LT) and Gujarat (0 .5 LT).