Damaged, discoloured wheat reaches south Malwa mandis
Officials attribute the reason behind wheat below the fair and average quality (FAQ) to unseasonal rain
BATHINDA: Shrivelled and discoloured wheat is being noticed in mixed ratios at different parts of southern Punjab as the foodgrain is reaching mandis in large quantities.
Officials have attributed the reason behind wheat below the fair and average quality (FAQ) to the unseasonal rains that lashed the state during the last week of March when the rabi crop was nearing its maturity stage. However, it is not at the alarming levels as speculated earlier, they said. Officials privy to the procurement process said the arrival trend does not indicate any adverse impact on the yield.
They said farmers are getting hassle-free payment from the procurement agencies, that is indicated by the fact that no protest by any farm union has been reported in the south Malwa districts during the current rabi marketing season.
Tardy lifting of wheat from mandis, however, remained the key problem in several parts of the region on Thursday.
Bathinda district mandi officer Gurvinder Singh said wheat below FAQ parameters of every farmer is being duly registered online, but they are being paid the full minimum support price (MSP) in accordance with the Punjab government’s decision to bear the value-cut cost.
Vineet Kumar, deputy commissioner of Muktsar -- one of the worst-hit districts due to unseasonal rains -- said ‘shrivelled and broken grains’ are pegged at more than 6% across the mandis. Similarly, the average lustre loss of wheat or discolouration is more than 10%.
“Girdawari is going on to assess the damage caused to the wheat crop in the district. There are mixed indications on damage to the crop,” he added.
Bathinda DC Showkat Ahmad Parray said the wheat produced in the district has no discolouration issue, but shrivelled grains are being reported from mandis.
“Field survey shows that heavy crop damage was noticed on about 15,000 acres in pockets across different villages where hailstorm was reported. Another similar acreage faced crop damage of different scales, but the rabi crop largely remained unaffected by damages. On the basis of crop loss assessment, ₹47 lakh has already been paid to 254 affected farmers,” Parray said.
Fazilka district food and civil supplies controller Raj Rishi Mehra said the wheat arriving in the district mandis has quality issues -- low colour and shrunken grains. “It all was the adverse impact of rains.
The district authorities have made elaborate arrangements for smooth procurement,” he added.
An arhtiya from Ferozepur, Gurnaib Gill, said there was not much damage to the quality of crops in the district and the yield was also encouraging.
‘Full and prompt payments to farmers’
Information gathered from farmers and arhtiyas on Thursday showed that wheat growers are getting ₹2,125 per quintal as the MSP without any problem.
Another commission agent, Pawan Kumar from Bathinda, who has about 200 farmers associated with him, said growers are getting prompt payment direct into their bank accounts by the procurement agencies.
The Bathinda DC said ₹345 crore was paid to 15,955 farmers whose wheat was bought till April 19.
Mansa DC Baldeep Kaur said payment of ₹347 crore was released for wheat bought till Wednesday and assessment shows barring a few pockets, there was a negligible loss to the crop.