The Hindu Business Line : Wheat procurement begins; may miss target

In normal years, harvesting of wheat in Punjab or Haryana really picks up only after the auspicious Baisakhi festival on April 14 and hardly 5-6 per cent of the crop arrives in the mandis prior to this date. By end-April, about 60 per cent of the wheat gets marketed, with the figure touching 97-98 per cent towards the middle of May. After that, arrivals are reduced to a trickle, as only few farmers have the capacity to hold on to their crop after more than a month of harvesting.

But this time round, the established pattern has gone completely topsy-turvy. An unusually warm March — which saw average temperatures zoom 6-7 per cent degrees Celsius above the normal levels for this period — has led to the crop maturing 10-15 days in advance in most of the wheat-growing areas of northern and central India. As a result, the mandis have been inundated with wheat right from the start of this month. The Baisakhi festival, which usually marks the onset of harvesting, has this year been transformed into a virtual mid-way break, signalling half-completion of marketing operations.

According to official data, as on April 15, a total quantity of 7.82 million tonnes (mt) has arrived in various mandis of the country, of which the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and State agencies have procured 7.58 mt. In contrast, wheat arrivals totalled a mere 4.39 lakh tonnes (lt) during the same period last year, with procurement by Government agencies amounting to 3.97 lt.

In Punjab, progressive arrivals till April 15 have been a massive 4.92 mt (compared to just 16,311 tonnes during this period last year), while the corresponding figures for Haryana are 2.71 mt and 3.47 lt. Official procurement has already crossed 4.81 mt in Punjab and 2.7 mt in Haryana, as against their corresponding last year levels of 15,132 tonnes and 3.47 lt respectively.

``To my knowledge, never before has so much of wheat been harvested or arrived in the mandis by mid-April,'' the Secretary, Department of Food and Public Distribution, Mr S.K. Tuteja, told Business Line.

What is worrying the Government, however, is not the fact of harvesting happening 10-15 days early, as much as what it implies for the size of the crop and the quantity to be procured this time. In the normal course, the wheat plant bears flowers towards the last week of February, which is followed by a 40-45 days period of `grain filling'. The latter, to a large extent, determines the weight (and, therefore, yield) of the grain to be harvested after mid-April.

Early ripening, courtesy high temperatures in March, has meant that the grain filling process has been cut short and the grain has not accumulated sufficient starch matter. "I have never seen such weak and slim wheat grains in my 50 years of experience in the trade. Most farmers here have been able to realise only 15-16 quintals per acre, as against the 20 quintals they usually get", claimed Mr Ranbir Sood, a leading arhtiya (commission agent) from Khanna, which is Asia's largest grain mandi.

While the Government had initially projected wheat procurement during the 2004-05 rabi marketing season (April-June) to exceed 20 mt, Mr Tuteja, however, admitted that ``we will now probably just about cross last year's 15.8 mt level.''

`No shortage of foodgrains, sugar'

THE Government has dismissed concerns over an impending shortage of foodgrains and sugar, necessitating large-scale imports in the coming months.

``The fears are totally unfounded. We have enough stocks of both grains and sugar to meet domestic requirements,'' the Secretary, Department of Food and Public Distribution, Mr S.K. Tuteja, said.

As on March 1, total foodgrain stocks in the central pool, at 227.82 lakh tonnes (including 135.75 lt of rice and 85.73 lt of wheat), were lower than last year's corresponding level of 361.96 lt (176.13 lt rice and 185.80 lt). According to Mr Tuteja, the stocks amounted to about 190 lt as on April 1, comprising about 120 lt of rice and 70 lt of wheat.

``The minimum buffer norm for April 1 is 158 lt, i.e 118 lt of rice and 40 lt of wheat. Considering that our actual stocks are 190 lt, fears of a crisis are totally unfounded,'' Mr Tuteja said. The situation was similar for sugar. ``The current sugar season began with opening stocks of around 110 lt as on October 1, 2003. Even if we assume production to have fallen to only 150 lt and domestic consumption at 180 lt, we will still have stocks of 80 lt at the close of the season, equivalent to over five months of consumption,'' he pointed out.

Mr Tuteja said that the existing stocks were more than adequate to take care of the country's domestic consumption needs. ``The Government has been keeping a very close watch on the overall stocks position and it is in this light that we stopped making fresh allocations for exports from the central pool with effect from August 13, 2003,'' he noted. The Secretary added that "we do not want a situation wherein we would be exporting grain now and importing the same six months down the line.''