Punjab not likely to meet central pool wheat target

Chandigarh, May 19 (UNI) Due to the fall in production this year, Punjab will not be able to fulfill its target of suppling about 85 lakh metric tonnes wheat to the central pool.

According to offical sources, the state government has now revised this target to 80.59 lakh metric tonnes. Last year the state had contributed about 89 lakh tonnes towards the central pool.

Sources said that, till date, the government agencies including FCI had purchased 69.39 lakh metric tonnes wheat. During the same period last year (till April 15) the government agencies had procured 89 lakh metric tonnes.

Another reason for the revision of the central pool target is the entry of a large number of private traders in the procurement business. Till date, private traders had purchased 11.80 lakh metric tonnes of the food grain while last year, this figure was just a couple of lakh tonnes.

In fact the private players entered the field before the government agencies. At the commencement of the procurement season which started on April one, the traders offered a higher rate than the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 650 per quintal to attract the farmers.

The fall in production has mainly been due to the weather conditions in the month of February. The temperatures in the month was comparatively higher than last year which was not considered condusive to the wheat crop.

The Punjab government had this season managed to divert about 55,000 hectares from wheat to other crops as part of its diversification drive.

UNI HS VD ND1706