Punjab farmers stocking up wheat in hopes to sell at higher price later
CHANDIGARH: There is a gap of 12-13 lakh tonnes of wheat that has not reached the grain markets for procurement in Punjab and is believed to have been stocked up by farmers in anticipation of fetching a higher price in the open market at a later stage.
“Keeping in view the 10-15% yield loss this rabi season and the wheat procurement by state agencies, FCI and the private traders, there is a gap of 12-13 lakh tonnes of wheat,” said secretary food and supplies, Punjab, Gurkirat Kirpal Singh.
Reportedly, some portion of wheat has been bought by traders directly from farmers, which the secretary refused to confirm.
Gurkirat hoped that the farmers who have stocked the grain will bring their produce for procurement, so that they do not suffer losses when procurement ends and prices in open market crash
However, the state’s food and civil supplies department, that supervises grain procurement storage and movement to the outside states, have no exact figures of the stocks held back by the peasantry.
According to arhtiyas (commission agents), the affluent farmers or those who have alternate income sources have not sold their produce to state agencies.
“Certainly, the farmers who can afford have held back their produce to sell it later, at a suitable time when prices surge. As an average nine out of ten farmers attached to us have come with their produce, the rest have held back. As per our estimates, it is 5 to 10 lakh tonnes,” said Ravinder Singh Cheema, who represents a section of arhtiyas as the president of the association.
To bring the produce stocked with the farmers for sale to the government agencies, the state food department has extended procurement to May 31, which they had earlier decided to wind up by May 13.
It is, however, feared that after imposition of ban on wheat exports by the Centre, the farmers might not fetch a good price in the open market.
According to Shingara Singh, a farmer from Payal village in Ludhiana who had stocked 250 quintals of his produce, he was not clear whether to hold the stocks further or sell it to the state agencies as he was not sure the prices will witness an upsurge.
Centre has fixed a minimum support price of ₹ 2,015 per quintal and, according to Cheema, the private traders have offered up to ₹ 2,300 per quintal, but after the ban on exports, an increase of ₹ 20-30 is being offered by traders over and above the MSP.
As against a target to procure 135 lakh tonnes of wheat set by the state food department, by May 18, only 102 lakh have arrived for procurement, witnessing a shortfall of 24%.
The fall in arrivals is also attributed to fall in yield, which according to the state agriculture department is 13.5% found through 2,200 crop cutting experiments conducted at the time of wheat harvest.
The yield fall is attributed to sudden rise in temperature in March when the crop was at maturing stage. Before that, the agriculture department had pegged total wheat production in the state to 175 lakh tonnes.
Out of the total wheat arrivals so far, the state’s four procurement agencies (Pungrain, Punsup, Markfed and state ware housing corporation) have purchased 90 lakh tonnes and at least 6 lakh tonnes each by the private traders and the food corporation of India (FCI), the Centre’s agency that drives nation’s public distribution system.
After procurement from the farmers, the state agencies hands over the grain to FCI for supply to consumer states.