Farmers should not panic and sell wheat at throwaway prices, Center relaxes procurement rules
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New Delhi : There is an advice and good news for the wheat producing farmers that in panic they should not sell their crop at throwaway prices. The central government has decided to relax the procurement rules to provide good price to the farmers producing wheat. According to media reports, to protect the interests of farmers and prevent them from selling wheat in panic, the central government has relaxed the quality norms for wheat procurement in Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana and Rajasthan.
Damage to wheat crop due to unseasonal rain
Let us inform that in many states of the country including Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana and Rajasthan, the recent unseasonal rains, hailstorm and strong wind have caused a lot of damage to the standing wheat crop, which was ready for harvesting. The governments of these states had demanded relaxation in the purchase rules. At present, wheat procurement is going on in Madhya Pradesh, while in other states due to unseasonal rains, its procurement has been delayed. The Food Corporation of India (FCI), which works under the central government, procures wheat in collaboration with state agencies.
After the survey, the government relaxed the rules
According to a report in news agency Bhasha, Subodh Kumar Singh, Additional Secretary in the Union Food Ministry, said that after field survey, we have relaxed the quality norms for procurement of wheat in Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana and Rajasthan to ease the hardships of farmers. can be reduced and they can be prevented from selling wheat in panic.
No cut in broken wheat prices by 18 percent
Subodh Kumar Singh said that the government has relaxed the limit of shriveled and broken grains up to 18 per cent as against the existing limit of six per cent under the uniform specifications. He said that no price cut will be applicable on wheat having dry and broken grains up to 6 per cent. Along with this, the price cut will not be applicable on wheat without luster up to 10 per cent, while wheat having luster loss of 10 per cent to 80 per cent will get a price cut of Rs 5.31 per quintal on uniform basis.
State responsible for the decline in quality
Subodh Kumar Singh further said that apart from this, both damaged and slightly damaged grains combined should not exceed six per cent. He said that any deterioration in the quality of wheat stock procured under the relaxed norms during storage would be the sole responsibility of the state governments. This wheat will be disposed of on priority basis. He said that any financial or operational impact due to the exemption would be the responsibility of the state governments.
Decision on price cut soon
The Center has asked these state governments to cut the price imposed from the minimum support price of Rs 2,125 per quintal while paying farmers. The official said that a similar demand of the Uttar Pradesh government is being considered. A decision will be taken soon after analyzing the field report.
Procurement of 13.20 lakh tonnes of wheat till 10th April
The government has procured 13.20 lakh tonnes of wheat till April 10 in the current marketing year 2023-24 (April-March), in which most of the procurement has been done from Madhya Pradesh. According to Food Ministry data, around 1,000 tonnes of wheat has been procured in Punjab while 88,000 tonnes in Haryana during the same period. Asked about less procurement in Punjab and Haryana, the official said unseasonal rains delayed the procurement. The arrival was not much and therefore the purchase was not much. However, the procurement of wheat will increase in the next few days.
Government will buy 3.42 crore tonnes of wheat
The Center aims to procure 34.2 million tonnes of wheat in the current marketing year 2023-24 (April-March), up from 19 million tonnes procured in the previous year. Last year, there was a drop in wheat procurement due to a slight drop in production due to heat and unseasonal rains. However, this year’s production is estimated to be a record 112.2 million tonnes.
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