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Government to relax wheat procurement standards to compensate farmers for damage by untimely rains |
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CHANDIGARH | NEW DELHI: The government will relax the quality standards for wheat procurement to compensate farmers for the damage caused by the untimely rains in March, said food minister Ram Vilas Paswan. The minister said that states have sought Rs 100 per quintal as bonus for wheat over and above the Rs 1,450 per quintal minimum support price to aid the farmers.
"The Food Corporation of India needs to relax quality standards for wheat procurement for damage caused by the hail and heavy rains," he said while visiting Chandigarh to assess the damage caused to the crops.
The Haryana government has sought relaxation in quality standards for wheat procurement for public distribution system, he added. This news comes at a time when some of the Indian wheat importers are in talks with international traders to procure 70,000-80,000 tonnes of Australian wheat.
India, the world's second-largest wheat grower, is expected to see a drop in production to 93-94 million tonnes this year, compared with 95.9 million tonnes in FY14, due to unseasonal rains across the planted regions.
Similarly, FCI also expects a 10% fall in wheat procurement owing to rains in March. This year, the FCI and other government agencies are set to procure 30 million tonnes for various government schemes from April 1. Traders feel that the government can relax the moisture content from 12% to 15%. Such procurement will have a shorter shelf life, they reckon.
Further, the trade expects wheat stock in government granaries to be 18 million tones as on April 1. "Every grain of wheat in Haryana and Punjab will be bought by the Centre," Paswan said, allaying fears. He added that the wheat procurement levels in Haryana will remain unchanged. "The state government feels that it has adequate infrastructure to procure paddy through its agencies."
While Punjab government has sought relief of Rs 717 crore, Haryana has sought relief of Rs 1,136 crore from the Centre to compensate farmers for the crop losses. FCI officials are expected to make field trips to assess the damage caused by the hail and rains post March 22.
Tejinder Narang, a grain analyst from New Delhi, said that giving financial relief to farmers by state governments, in the name of inclement weather, is a good vote-bank politics.
"India shall have abundant good quality wheat despite some damage to the crops by untimely rains. We are looking ahead of 95 million tonnes of Indian wheat production along with 18 million tonnes of carry-in stocks," he said, adding that import of Australian wheat of specific grades in containers is an annual phenomenon by the millers in South India and cannot be linked to the quality mitigation of Indian crop.
Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com
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