The Centre has relaxed wheat procurement norms in Haryana for the 2015-16 Rabi season, to help farmers sell crop that got damaged due to untimely rains and hailstorms in March.

On Tuesday, the day of Baisakhi or harvest festival, the Food Ministry said the limit of shrivelled and broken grains has been relaxed up to 9 per cent, against the existing limit of 6 per cent in Haryana.

Value cut imposition

“Under uniform specifications, a half value cut is imposed in such a manner that for every relaxation of 2 per cent or part thereof, one full value cut at the rate of ₹14.50 per quintal will be applied,” the Ministry said in a statement. Also, lustre-lost wheat containing up to 10 per cent affected kernels may be purchased without any value cut, while lustre-lost wheat containing more than 10 per cent and up to 50 per cent affected kernels may be purchased with one-fourth of a full value cut on flat basis at the rate of ₹3.63/quintal.

The Haryana government had requested that purchase norms for wheat be relaxed following untimely rains causing massive damage to standing crops. Based on the request, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) collected wheat samples from mandis in Haryana and after examining the test results, decided to relax the quality norms for procurement of wheat in the State with immediate effect.

FCI tests

According to a news agency report, wheat samples collected by FCI in various districts of Haryana showed damage content, shrivelled grains and lustre-loss of up to 60 per cent, with maximum damage reported in the districts of Jhajjar, Palwal and Rewari.

In its interim report submitted to the Food Ministry, FCI found damage content in wheat crop in the range of 2.5 per cent to 11 per cent, against the 2 per cent fair average quality norm for wheat crop.

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