Faulty procurement policy led to import of wheat : Swaminathan

New Delhi, June 12 (UNI) Top agricultural scientist and chairman of the National Commission on Farmers Dr M S Swaminathan today slammed the government's new system of wheat procurement as being responsible for the large-scale import of wheat this year.

The government has to rethink over the foodgrain procurement policy in a way that there should be more grains with the government than with the private parties and has called for adhering to this dictum asa "code of ethic'', Dr Swaminathan said in an exlusive interview to NDTV.

Dr Swaminathan said,"Farmers getting Rs 1000 per quintal new ..

is fine, but all stake holders must get together. Private players buy cheap and can hold till prices rise. There has to be a code of ethic. Private players need profits, but for food crops there has to be a code of ethic and there should be no compromise on food security (ofthe country)".

" The wheat imports is a wake up call for us. Production has been as good as past years but current shortage has been caused because of private players", he said.

UNI/JSS DKS RS1259