Confident of achieving wheat procurement target: Food Secretary

Asked whether the Centre will relax norms for procurement of wheat, he said, “We are yet to get the reports, but depending on the situation we will do whatever is required to help farmers and ensure that we have adequate stocks.”

He said, “We had a meeting yesterday with the Agriculture Department…there is no need for panic; there is no major loss in production. Some marginal loss may be expected but in other parts the yield is going to be better. So it might be the case that after some time we find that the production is as anticipated at 112 million tonnes.”

He said given the inclement weather over the last two weeks, there have been reports of some damage, primarily from around 16 districts of Punjab and parts of Haryana. The estimates on the extent of damage are being worked out but “overall…the damage we are expecting in terms of production…the shortfall that we are anticipating is going to be very marginal,” Chopra said.

“While there is some loss of production in Punjab and Haryana, we are also expecting that because of the low temperatures over the past almost a month now, the yield will be more in areas that are unaffected,” he said. “Also, it will be greatly beneficial to areas of UP and Bihar, where late-sown varieties are going to come in the next month or so.”

Chopra said the Centre has allowed relaxation in terms of lustre loss to Madhya Pradesh, and similar requests have come from Haryana and Punjab. He said the ministry is “fairly confident” that the target of procuring 342 lakh tonnes of wheat in the current rabi marketing season will be achieved.

Giving details of the Rice Fortification Programme, he said 269 districts in 27 states have started distributing fortified rice under Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), achieving a 100% target set for Phase II by March 2023.