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Rabi wheat procurement in the country is off to a sluggish start with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and State agencies procuring 88.61 lakh tonnes (lt) till Monday, even as officials claimed that 80 per cent of wheat crop in the country has already been harvested.
In comparison, till April 30 last year, total procurement from various wheat-growing States in the country was 196 lt.
Procurement volume
One of the reasons for the lower procurement this year in States such as Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh is the delayed start due to the lockdown. Moreover, social distancing as well as restrictions on how much quantity of wheat a farmer can bring to procurement centres too have affected the volume. While the procurement in Punjab was a little over 48 lt till Monday, that in Haryana and Madhya Pradesh was 19 lt and 17 lt respectively. The volume of wheat procured in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan was much lower than that in the corresponding week last year. Meanwhile, a Central government official said 80 per cent of wheat crop in the country has already been harvested. With nearly 2,000 mandis becoming operational, the procurement will pick up momentum, the official said.
Rain impact
Farmers in many parts of north India are worried about the untimely rains impacting the crop. “While rains will not affect the output, they can affect the quality of grains, leading to lower prices or outright rejection due to discolouration,” said Jitendra Hudda, a farmer from Uttar Pradesh.
Shopatram Meghwal, a farmer leader from Sriganganagar in Rajasthan, said Sunday’s rains affected wheat crop in nearly 400 hectares in Suratgarh tehsil in the district. Both harvested crop as well as standing crop were affected, he said.
Rajinder Singh, a former agriculture extension officer working in Karnal district in Haryana, said crop cutting experiments in the district had shown that wheat output in the region would be lower than that last year.
Curbs on procurement
Many farmers complain that with the procurement agencies and traders, who procure wheat on behalf of procurement agencies, putting restrictions on the amount of wheat a farmer bring for procurement is causing difficulties them.
“Earlier, farmers used to harvest wheat at one go and take the grains to the market for sale. Now, with restriction that only 40 quintal can be sold at a time, farmers have to harvest the field part by part or find a place to store the grains till the next turn. This is leading to extra expenses on loading and unloadin,” said Meghwal.
The Gujarat government on Monday started wheat procurement through its State Civil Supplies Corporation from the designated 219 procurement centres.
“Wheat procurement had actually started before Covid-19 struck. But after the outbreak, procurement was put on hold. Now that we have resumed from today, we see some farmers bringing their wheat produce to sell at the MSP rates,” a senior official at the Gujarat State Civil Supplies Corporation (GSCSC) told Businessline .
As on April 25, market prices quoted in the range of ₹1,710-1,805 with the modal price at ₹1,735 for the Lokvan variety. Arrivals were reported at 760 tonnes. A total of 30,435 farmers have registered and 38 farmers participated on Day 1. The agency procured about 1,449 quintals worth ₹28 lakh.
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