Wheat procurement price raised to Rs 850

New Delhi, Mar 16 (UNI) Stung by last year's low procurement of wheat, which forced the country to go in for record imports, the Government today announced an all-time high bonus of Rs 100, raising the Minimum Support Price to Rs 850 per quintal for the coming Rabi crop.

This is an increase of Rs 150 over last year's price of Rs 700 (Rs 650+Rs 50 bonus) per quintal of wheat.

After exporting foodgrains for the previous three years, India last year went for import of Rs 55 lakh tonnes of wheat. The main reason for the import was the low procurement of nearly nine million tonnes as against the average procurement of 15 to 16 million tonnes.

Making the announcement of bonus in Parliament, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said the government will also import wheat, if needed, to avoid any shortage.

''We have been concerned over the deteriorating terms of trade in agriculture and it is our commitment that farmers are given a better deal. Last year, we had no option to import wheat to meet the needs of the Public Distribution System(PDS) and also the demand of the open market,'' he said.

The Minister said the decision to increase the price to Rs 750 per quintal produced good results with farmers increasing the area under wheat and also increasing productiviy. ''But for unseasonal rain and hail storms, we would have benefited from the bumper crop.'' Mr Pawar said when the present government took over in 2004 wheat production had fallen to a low of 68 million tonnes, because of the ''short-sighted policy'' of low Minimum Support Price.

But now ''the Government wants that farmers should get better returns from their land.'' He said the Government will ensure that there was no shortage of wheat in the country. To avoid any shortage, it has been decided to permit duty free import of wheat till December 31 this year.

If necessary, adequate quantities of wheat will be imported to meet the requirements of the Public Distribution System and other welfare schemes like Mid-Day Meal, ICDS and other employment and nutrition programmes, Mr Pawar said.

The Minister said State Trading Corporation will be asked to take preparatory steps to import upto three million tonnes in case the need arise.

The country is expecting wheat production of 72 million tonnes this year as against last year's 69.35 million tonnes.

UNI