Govt offers 2.5% incentive for aiding wheat purchase

In an effort to step up wheat procurement, the government has decided to offer 2.5 per cent agent's commission to any organisation or society that aids the buys, Food Secretary T Nandkumar said.

He said 'ahrtiyas' or commission agents in Punjab and Haryana mandis charge 2.5 per cent as commission, which is incorporated under the mandi charges to be paid on wheat procurement.

Since there is no proper mandi system in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar, the commission fee is not paid in these states. "From May 1, we have been extending 2.5 per cent commission to all agencies that help in wheat procurement in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana," the secretary said.

He said the commission would be paid to primary cooperative and credit societies, village self-help groups, licensees of market committees or any agents or agencies that help in procurement. The government has also decided to keep the procurement window open for a longer period this year to encourage farmers to sell wheat to the government. Wheat procurement usually begins to wane by mid-May. This year, however, the government may continue to buy wheat till June-end.

"This year, we will keep Food Corp wheat depots open for a longer period depending on the rate of procurement and will close them down gradually in phases after procurement starts dwindling," Nandkumar said.

He said to give a push to wheat buys, the government has roped in National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation to procure at places where the Food Corp's infrastructure is weak.

The government has also announced an unprecedented increase of Rs 150 per 100 kg in the procurement price.

"If even after that farmers are holding back wheat stocks, we have no option but to go in for imports," Nandkumar said.

Last week, Minister of State for Agriculture, Food and Civil Supplies Akhilesh Prasad said the government has opened 13,128 centres in 2007 crop year for procuring wheat, compared with 8,985 centres last year, to ensure higher buys this year.

He said senior government officials have also been asked to visit the wheat procuring states to assess the situation.

Despite such efforts, the government's wheat procurement is lagging behind last year's and it may miss its target of buying 12-15 million tonnes from farmers in the current marketing year that commenced on April 1.

Till Tuesday, the government had bought 8.9 million tonnes wheat from farmers, as against 9.1 million tonnes in the year ago.