The Modi Government is hopeful of achieving a wheat procurement target of 34.2 million tonne as India likely to harvest a record wheat output. The Centre is expected to take a call soon on relaxing quality norms for buying in Punjab and Haryana in view of crop damage due to untimely rains.
According to reports, wheat quality impacted due to inclement weather. Addressing a press conference, Union Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra said the Government is hopeful of a record wheat output of 112.2 million tonne in 2022-23 crop year ending June, despite inclement weather conditions in some parts of the country affecting grain quality. The likely production loss due to unseasonal rains in Punjab and Haryana will be offset by yield gains expected in other wheat producing States because of lower temperature, he said. Chopra said the Centre has already relaxed quality norms for wheat procurement in Madhya Pradesh to ensure that farmers do not suffer because of vagaries of weather and they get minimum support price (MSP).
Earlier in the day while announcing the bi-monthly monetary policy, Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das said the expectation of a record rabi harvest bodes well for easing of food price pressure. “There is already evidence of a correction in wheat prices in March on supply side interventions by the Government. The impact of the recent unseasonal rains in some parts of the country, however, needs to be watched,” the Governor said.
“Because of the inclement weather in the last two weeks, there has been some damage to the wheat crop. But the production loss will be minimal. We are hopeful of achieving the overall production target of 112.2 million tonne,” Chopra said. There are reports of crop damage in 16 districts of Punjab and some parts of Haryana, but a final estimate on the extent of damage has not been worked out yet. However, a marginal production loss is being anticipated, he said.
While there may be some production loss in Punjab and Haryana, there is a likelihood that particular loss will be offset by the yield gain in late-sown varieties to be achieved because of lower temperature in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, he said.