SORE OVER GOVT ‘MONOPOLY’, FARMERS HOLD BACK WHEAT
Ludhiana April 13:
Farmers across the region are sore with the government for trying to monopolise wheat purchases.
After a long time, farmers have got a chance to directly sell their produce at a slightly better rate than the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 1,000 per quintal being offered by government. However, the government has banned direct purchase by private players.
This time, the farmers seem to be smarter. They are withholding most of their wheat, only a limited quantity is being sold to government agencies. This has already set alarm bells ringing in the government which has indicated importing wheat to jack up the food stocks, but that hardly deters the farmers who insist that they will sell their produce only when they get the right price. They too want to get the benefit of open economy.
President, BKU (Rajewal), Balbir Singh Rajewal, said earlier the government had announced it would procure 105 lakh tonnes of wheat which had come down to just 85-90 lakh metric tonnes (as per the Food Supplies Department). But the government would not be able to procure more than 60-62 lakh tonnes of wheat from Punjab, claimed Rajewal.
He further added that from Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, the government procured not more than 1 lakh tonnes. Big private players like CARGILL, ITC and Reliance had the capacity to procure huge amounts of wheat from Punjab, but the government had fixed just 10,000 metric tonnes for each of them, which was peanuts. "In case, they want to get more, they will have to seek permission from the government or the FCI, which is a tedious process", said Rajewal, adding that it was not only the farmer who will suffer, the consumer, too, will have to pay the price at the end.
Sangrur district remains on top in wheat production with approximately 8-10 lakh tonnes and Ludhiana comes next with 6-7 lakh tonnes of produce. According to the agriculture department of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), 2-5 quintal per acre yield (out of total 34.5 lakh hectare land) has already been lost in the recent rains accompanied with winds, which means minimum losses of 17.4 lakh tonnes of yield.
Meanwhile, R.P.S.Pawar, principal secretary, Food Supplies (additional charge), said wheat had started coming to mandis. He claimed that private players would not be able to compete with government agencies and farmers would prefer to sell the produce to government because of assured payment in 24 hours.
Ludhiana April 13:
Farmers across the region are sore with the government for trying to monopolise wheat purchases.
After a long time, farmers have got a chance to directly sell their produce at a slightly better rate than the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 1,000 per quintal being offered by government. However, the government has banned direct purchase by private players.
This time, the farmers seem to be smarter. They are withholding most of their wheat, only a limited quantity is being sold to government agencies. This has already set alarm bells ringing in the government which has indicated importing wheat to jack up the food stocks, but that hardly deters the farmers who insist that they will sell their produce only when they get the right price. They too want to get the benefit of open economy.
President, BKU (Rajewal), Balbir Singh Rajewal, said earlier the government had announced it would procure 105 lakh tonnes of wheat which had come down to just 85-90 lakh metric tonnes (as per the Food Supplies Department). But the government would not be able to procure more than 60-62 lakh tonnes of wheat from Punjab, claimed Rajewal.
He further added that from Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, the government procured not more than 1 lakh tonnes. Big private players like CARGILL, ITC and Reliance had the capacity to procure huge amounts of wheat from Punjab, but the government had fixed just 10,000 metric tonnes for each of them, which was peanuts. "In case, they want to get more, they will have to seek permission from the government or the FCI, which is a tedious process", said Rajewal, adding that it was not only the farmer who will suffer, the consumer, too, will have to pay the price at the end.
Sangrur district remains on top in wheat production with approximately 8-10 lakh tonnes and Ludhiana comes next with 6-7 lakh tonnes of produce. According to the agriculture department of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), 2-5 quintal per acre yield (out of total 34.5 lakh hectare land) has already been lost in the recent rains accompanied with winds, which means minimum losses of 17.4 lakh tonnes of yield.
Meanwhile, R.P.S.Pawar, principal secretary, Food Supplies (additional charge), said wheat had started coming to mandis. He claimed that private players would not be able to compete with government agencies and farmers would prefer to sell the produce to government because of assured payment in 24 hours.
