E-Paper
Haryana farmers unlikely to reap benefit of hike in wheat prices
Even as the prices of wheat in the open market have gone beyond the minimum support price (MSP) offered by the government, wheat growers who are associated with the arhtiyas of the agriculture produce marketing committees are unlikely to get any benefit from it
Even as the prices of wheat in the open market have gone beyond the minimum support price (MSP) offered by the government, wheat growers who are associated with the arhtiyas of the agriculture produce marketing committees are unlikely to get any benefit from it.
As per the private wheat traders of Haryana, the prices of wheat in the open market have now increased to around ₹2,200 per quintal against the government MSP of ₹2,015. They said more than 90% farmers are associated with the mandis and sell their produce through arhtiyas and the private traders do not buy wheat from mandis of Haryana.
The arrival of wheat will start in the mandis only after the government agencies will start procurement from April 1.
People associated with the mandis trading believe that the prices of wheat may even increase further but it will not give any benefit to the farmers as they have to sell it on MSP until there are alternate arrangements given to them inside the APMCs or private traders buy it by open auction.
“This is for the first time in several years that wheat is getting prices above the MSP but the wheat growers are unlikely to get benefits of it as over 90% of the wheat is sold to government agencies on MSP and there are no private buyers of wheat in our mandis,” said wheat trader Parveen Kumar of Karnal, adding that benefit of rise in the prices will not go to the pockets of farmers.
Also, flour mills and seed plants buy a limited stock of wheat and they buy it directly from the farmers and traders outside the mandis to avoid charges.
On why the private traders are not interested in wheat trade in Haryana, Vijay Setia, former president of the All India Rice Exporters’ Association (AIREA), said there are many issues keeping the private buyers away from the wheat business in state.
He said the private buyers will have to buy wheat above MSP and then they will have to pay a 4% market fee besides transportation and handling charges.
“Since there are no restrictions on wheat trade by their governments, transporters in other states are buying wheat above MSP and exporting it outside country. While market fee is a big issue in Haryana,” he added.
The Bharatiya Kisan Union (Tikait) state president Ratan Mann said the government should ensure that the benefit of increased prices of wheat should reach farmers. He advised the farmers not to sell their produce in a haste and wait to see if the private traders come forward and buy it at higher prices.
Farm leader Rakesh Tikait, during his visit to Haryana, had advised the farmers not to sell their produce at throw away prices terming the war between the two wheat surplus nations of Russia and Ukraine an opportunity for farmers and wheat exporters here to reap additional benefits.
Government agencies, including the food and supplies department, Hafed, the Haryana Warehousing Corporation, and the Food Corporation of India, will start procurement operations from April 1. Haryana agriculture department officials are expecting the wheat production in state to remain around 120 lakh MT against the 115 lakh MT of last year.
The procurement agencies expect the procurement of around 85 lakh MT of wheat in state this year against the 84.93 lakh MT of last year.
