Stressing on “constant” communication to bridge “communication gap”, Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra said Thursday that the government is willing to hold further talks with the protesting farmer unions to explain “what’s actually intended.” Chopra said, “It’s communication, it’s dialogue which is going on, and the government has made an offer which was to address the concerns raised by the unions themselves as the water table is going down and soil quality is deteriorating. So, to address those concerns of the farmer unions, the government has given this proposal which we all are aware of.” Asked about the possible impact of protests on wheat procurement in Punjab during the ensuing Rabi marketing season, Chopra said, “I am hopeful that the issues will be resolved much in advance of the procurement season.” Asked about the wheat procurement target for the upcoming RMS 2024-25, Chopra said, “We will fix the target on February 20 when we are meeting the food secretaries (of states).” He added that the government is talking to states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar to increase wheat procurement. “We have been planning now for the past three to four months, we are talking to states, particularly those which have a huge potential for wheat procurement but somehow it’s not happening — like UP, Rajasthan, Bihar — where we’ve been talking to the farmers also, talking to the state governments and ensuring a proper action plan for these 3 states,” Chopra said. “We found that in some areas wheat is coming only to the market but we had a condition that we will start from April 1, so we were missing those 15-20 days of initial arrival in the market. Now, the states have been given freedom and most states will be starting wheat procurement between March 1 and 15. UP told me this morning they intend to start procurement from March 1. So, we are trying to ensure the wheat procurement season coincides with arrivals in the market,” he said. “Second, we are trying to ensure more procurement centres are open… You saw a mismatch between areas showing higher production, higher arrivals have lower procurement centres and vice versa… ,” Chopra said. “Third is to ensure farmers get their payments within 48 hours. We have awareness campaigns going on, particularly in these three states. Camps are also being organised to inform farmers about current MSP, the farmers also know payment will be credited to their bank accounts in 48 hours. These are the three major components in which we are trying to ensure the procurement can be enhanced,” he added. Replying to a query, Chopra said wheat production may reach 114 million tonnes during the current year. In a separate development, Union Minister Anurag Thakur Thursday said, “Several central ministers have gone to Chandigarh, met farmers and held discussions for hours. There were positive discussions.” "We need to make sure there is no violence and loss of money and lives,” he added.
