A year after surpassing all previous records in wheat procurement ever during the last Rabi marketing Season (RMS), Punjab has this year hit its lowest procurement figure in that last 15 years with a 29% fall compared to last year. Amid less wheat arrival, Punjab government has decided to close mandis from May 5 onwards in a phased manner. The state has procured 93.63 lakh tonnes (9.3 million tonnes) wheat against 132.22 lakh tonnes (13.2 million tonnes) last year which is 38.59 lakh tonnes less. This year the state government had fixed a target of procuring 130 lakh tonnes (13 million tonnes) of wheat but the unprecedented rise in temperatures in March had resulted in the grains shrinking in size. Wheat procurement began from April 1, but actual arrival in mandis started around April 9, and by the last week of April the arrival in mandis was down to one lakh tonnes daily. In fact, with both Punjab and Haryana seeing fall in wheat procurement, the Centre's wheat procurement this season has declined by 44% to 162 lakh tonnes till May 1. Central teams in Punjab today Amid a delay in Union government’s decision on Punjab’s demand for relaxation of norms for shrivelled grains of wheat, another set of teams are being sent to the state by the Union government's Department of Food and Public Distribution. The teams would reach Punjab on Wednesday. Punjab Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak told the media Tuesday that the team would collect samples from the mandis to ascertain the extent of problem of shrivelling of grains. He assured full cooperation to the visiting officials. The Centre had earlier also sent a team to the state. They had collected samples of wheat being brought to the mandis to ascertain the crop loss due to hot weather. The state has been demanding that the Centre should relax the norms, but it has not been done so far. The results of the samples collected by the central teams earlier had shown 10% to 20% shrivelling in grains. Punjab’s average wheat yield this year has been recorded 42.26 quintals per hectare (17.10 quintals per acre) against 48.68 quintals per hectares (19.70 quintals per acre) last year. Before this, the lowest yield was recorded in 2006-07 at 42.10 quintals per hectare. By this estimate, Punjab’s total wheat production should settle around 148 lakh tonnes this year against 177.22 lakh tonnes last year. Around Rs16,606 crore payment has already released in the accounts of the farmers till May 2. Top 10 contributors saw fall in arrival Ten districts that account for 69% of the total wheat arrival in state's mandis this year, have also seen a drastically low arrival as compared to last year. These districts have received 25% less wheat compared to last year. Sangrur, which has recorded the highest arrival of wheat this year like last year, received 8.64 lakh tonnes (LT) wheat – over three lakh tonnes less than the last year (11.70 lakh tonnes). In Muktsar Sahib, 7.03 lakh tonnes arrived against 9.52 lakh tonnes last year. In Ludhiana, it was 6.81 LT this year against 9.21 LT during last season. The trend continued in Bathinda (6.77 LT this year against 9.06 last year), Ferozepur (6.58 LT this year against 8.18 LT last year), Patiala (6.05 LT LT this year against 8.63 LT last year), Tarn Taran (5.97 LT this year against 6.89 LT last year) and Moga (5.90 LT this year against 7.51 LT last year) The records of Punjab Mandi Board (PMD) revealed that it was for the first time since 2007-08 that Punjab had recorded below 100 lakh tonnes wheat. In 2007-08 wheat procurment was was 70.99 LT, while in the past over two decades since 1999-2000 it was the year 2006-07 when the state’s wheat procrument was lowest with 69.07 LT. Meanwhile, private players’ purchase is also high at 5.65 LT this year. In 2007-08, it was 9.18 LT, while in 1999-2000, private purchase was highest at 13.12 LT in 2006-07. The fall in the government wheat buying, the official sources said, was mainly due to increased private purchase for the export as well as lower crop yields, especially in Punjab and Haryana because of the sudden rise in temperature. There is a huge demand for Indian wheat amid sharp decline in availability of the grain in the global market due to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Both nations are major producers and exporters of wheat. The country is estimated to have exported over 7 million tonnes in 2021-22 fiscal. The official sources further said that the Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh governments have sent teams to directly procure wheat from farmers. Meanwhile, the Centre has stopped the sale of wheat under the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS) to bulk consumers and asked them not to wait for recommencement of the scheme for buying the grain, the sources added. Private players are buying wheat at more than MSP amid increased demand for the grain for export.
