Wheat arrival picks up in Punjab mandis - Hindustan Times
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Wheat arrival picks up in Punjab mandis

By, Chandigarh
Apr 13, 2023 01:26 AM IST

Punjab's wheat arrival this season is far behind last year's at 15.05 lakh tonnes due to rain, hailstorms and wind damage. The state has so far procured 1.94 lakh tonnes across 1,111 mandis. Arrival is expected to pick up by the end of the week as full-scale harvesting begins. The state government will also own the value cut imposed on damaged wheat crops due to the weather, announced Bhagwant Mann, Punjab's chief minister, via Twitter. The value cut will cost an estimated INR60 crore ($8m) for the 100-120 lakh tonnes of crop expected to reach the mandis.

Arrival of freshly-harvested wheat in Punjab on Wednesday saw a sudden rise with 1.67 lakh tonne of wheat arrived in the state mandis. The total arrivals in the state so far now stand at 3.28 lakh tonne. Procurement in the state began on April 1, but arrivals started on April 5.

Farmers use a combine harvester in a wheat field during harvesting season in Amritsar on Wednesday. (PTI)
Farmers use a combine harvester in a wheat field during harvesting season in Amritsar on Wednesday. (PTI)

Buying of wheat in the state began in 2,466 mandis on April 1, including 1,860 permanent mandis and 606 temporary mandis. So far, crop arrival has been reported in 1,111 state mandis.

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The four state procurement agencies have procured 1.94 lakh tonne of wheat so far and 1.25 lakh tone of produce was procured today.

The arrival in the current season is way behind than that of last year, which was 15.05 lakh tonne of wheat. Rain, hailstorm and winds also damaged the crop at the maturing stage this season and delayed harvesting.

Wheat arrival has so far been reported in Kapurthala, Nawanshahr, Ferozepur, Fazilka, Muktsar, Faridkot, Moga, Ludhiana, Bathinda, Mansa, Sangrur, Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ropar and Mohali mandis. According to officials in the state food and civil supplies department, the arrival would pick up pace by the end of this week as harvest has started in full swing across the state.

Punjab govt will bear value cut imposed on damaged crop: CM

Chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday announced that the state government would own the value cut imposed on wheat crop damaged due to rain, winds and hailstorm.

The CM made this announcement through a message on twitter, a day after relaxations were announced by the Centre, with a value cut. Agriculture minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal had on Tuesday raised objection to the value cut.

Though a mechanism to pay full cost to farmers was yet to be set in place, a senior official in the food and civil supplies department said as per an estimate, 60 crore would be required to pay for the value cut. Around 100 to 120 lakh tonne of crop is expected to reach the mandis, but the extent of crop loss is yet to be known.

“We will pay full MSP to farmers and hand over the crop to the food corporation of India for distribution in the country by taking into account the value cut,” added the officer.

As per a communication received from the Centre by the state’s food and civil supplies department on Tuesday, there will be no value cut on grain with lustre loss up to 10%, however, above 10 to 80%, flat value cut of 5.31 per quintal will be imposed. A minimum support price of 2,125 per quintal is being offered on wheat.

For wheat with shrivelled and broken content of 6 to 8%, a value cut of 5.31 will be imposed. It will be 10.62 for 8 to 10%, 15.93 for 10-12%, 21.25 for 12-14%, 26.56 for 14-16% and for 16-18% shriveled and broken grain a value cut of 31.87 will be imposed.

A team of scientists from the Centre’s ministry of food visited the state mandis to assess the quality of grain reaching the mandis and submitted a report to the ministry on Sunday. A special girdawari by the state revenue department is being conducted to compensate the farmers.

SAD seeks 100 per quintal bonus to farmers

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Wednesday asked the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to get the value cuts imposed on wheat crop reviewed, besides paying a bonus of 100 per quintal to farmers to compensate them for low yield due to inclement weather.

Addressing a press conference here, SAD leader Prem Singh Chandumajra said the CM failed to present the state’s case for exemption from value cuts on wheat properly, due to which the cuts had been imposed.

“The AAP government should make a case to get these cuts reviewed and withdrawn, besides announcing a bonus of 100 per quintal to farmers,” he suggested.

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