With wheat procurement in Madhya Pradesh likely to be at an all-time high of 7.5 million tonnes (mt), a problem of plenty may leave the government with no option but to leave it exposed to rains.
With the latest figure touching three mt, state authorities have no concrete answer. It is likely that nearly 5 mt of wheat will be kept in the open, under polyethylene covers.
“As many as 330,000 farmers have sold 3 mt of wheat to government agencies and we expect the figure to cross 75 lakh against the targetted 6.5 mt,” Narottam Mishra government spokesperson said.
Last year, the procurement process had come under sharper scrutiny the when main Opposition Congress party alleged that a section of government machinery had imported cheap wheat from neighbouring states to milk profit. This year, the government has put on allocation a food credit limit of Rs 1,100 crore for procurement purpose.
The problem of plenty will put warehouses of the state in excess of capacity as government has made arrangements of only 4.5 mt of wheat.
Several rounds of meetings over the issue turned futile as procurement of 7.5 mt of wheat is in excess of existing warehousing capacity of 4 mt. State-owned warehouses, godowns, covered caps are full.
Some private partners have also been roped in but according to insiders they will be able to store only 0.5 mt. The minister of food and civil supplies had recently told Business Standard the government has covered warehouses with 1.2-mt capacity. 3 mt of wheat will be placed in godowns in joint-venture with private players. Another 2.3 mt will be kept in open under cap cover. Yet the government is expecting to procure 2.5 mt more. “We are making efforts to put the wheat in covered space and asking the Central agencies to lift it as early as possible,” he said adding “we have paid Rs 3327 crore to farmers so far and approximately 2.3 mt of wheat has already been transported.”
Last year, the state government had paid Rs 4400 crore to farmers but gross irregularities came to light. The higher procurement price of Rs 1450 per quintal, is attracting more farmers.
The wheat production in the state is expected to touch 11mt this year due to favourable weather conditions and increase in acreage.
Madhya Pradesh grows few fine varieties of wheat namely, Sharbati and Durum, which contain high protein and fiber. Sharbati is grown in areas of Sehore, Bhopal, Indore, Vidisha, Ujjain and Hoshangabad, while durum is grown in Vidisha and few parts of Malwa region.
Durum is exported to various countries where it is used in pasta making.
