 "Wheat crop")
The Centre has relaxed quality norms for wheat procurement in Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana, and Rajasthan to prevent distressed sale as well as protect the interest of farmers, a senior official said on Tuesday.
The recent untimely rainfall, hailstorm and high velocity wind have damaged the standing wheat crop, which was ready for harvest, in some parts of these states. These state governments had demanded the relaxation in procurement norms.
Currently, wheat procurement is underway in Madhya Pradesh, while it has been delayed in other states because of untimely rains. State-owned Food Corporation of India (FCI) along with state agencies undertake the procurement of wheat.
"After the field survey, we have relaxed the quality norms for procurement of wheat in Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana and Rajasthan in order to reduce hardship of farmers and to avoid distressed sale of wheat," Subodh Kumar Singh, Additional Secretary in the Union Food Ministry, told PTI.
The government has relaxed the limit of shriveled and broken grains up to 18 per cent against the existing limit of 6 per cent under the uniform specifications, he said.
No value cut will be applicable on wheat having shriveled and broken grains up to 6 per cent, he said.
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The value cut will not be applicable on wheat having lusture loss up to 10 per cent, while value cut of Rs 5.31 per quintal on flat basis will be deducted on wheat having lusture loss grains above 10 per cent up to 80 per cent.
That apart, both damaged and slightly damaged grain altogether should not exceed 6 per cent, he added.
Singh further said any deterioration of quality of wheat stock procured under relaxed norms during storage will be the sole responsibility of the state governments. This wheat will be liquidated on an overriding priority basis.
Any financial or operational implications due to the relaxation will be the responsibility of the state governments, he added.
The Centre has asked these state governments to deduct the imposed value cut from the minimum support price of Rs 2,125 per quintal while making a payment to the farmers.
The official mentioned that the Uttar Pradesh government's similar demand is under consideration. A decision will be taken soon after analysing the field report.
The government has purchased 13.20 lakh tonnes of wheat till April 10 of the ongoing 2023-24 marketing year (April-March) mostly from Madhya Pradesh. About 1,000 tonnes of wheat has been procured in Punjab, while 88,000 tonnes in Haryana in the same period, as per the Food Ministry data.
Asked about the lower procurement in Punjab and Haryana, the official said, "the procurement was delayed due to the untimely rains. The arrivals were not huge and therefore the procurement has not been much. However, in the next few days, the procurement of wheat in these two states will pick up."
The Centre aims to procure 34.2 million tonnes of wheat in the ongoing 2023-24 marketing year (April-March), higher than 19 million tonnes achieved in the previous year.
Last year, wheat procurement had declined due to a slight fall in production owing to heatwave and unseasonal rains. However, this year the production is estimated to be a record 112.2 million tonnes.
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