FCI hopeful of meeting wheat procurement target despite flaws

New Delhi, Apr 2 (UNI) The Food Corporation of India (FCI) is hopeful of meeting its wheat procurement target this season even as it drew almost blank from Punjab and Haryana markets on the first day of its entry yesterday, as farmers preferred to sell their stocks to the private companies offering as much as Rs 940 per quintal against the official Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 850 a quinal.

Private companies like Cargill and ITC may go in for aggressive buying this season too as their operators could directly purchase stocks from the farmers' fields at most attractive rates of Rs 1,050 per quintal reportedly offered in Patiala and some other areas of Punjab.

Last year, the private companies bought around 1.3 million tonne or 17 per cent of Punjab's production by paying only Rs 20 more than the MSP at Rs 650 a quintal. The cornering of stocks by private parties, severely hit the FCI procurment plan and it could purchase only 9.2 million tonnes of wheat against a target of 14.8 million tonnes.

As a result of low procurement, the government had to import 5.5 million tonnes wheat to replenish its stocks last year.

Talking to UNI, FCI General Manager procurement B P Pandey said the private companies could purchase at the most 5 to 10 per cent arrival of wheat in mandies leaving a sufficient stocks for FCI, the nodal agency for procuring wheat for the government's food kitty.

Besides, he said, actual wheat arrival would begin after 'Baisakhi', April 13 and whatever little bit wheat had started hitting the markets now, was containing moisture more than the FCI's specification of 17 per cent.

FCI is confident of achieving its target of procurement of 15 million tonnes this season as Mr Pandey said wheat output would be around 72.5 million tonne this season against last year's 69.5 million tonne.

But reports said the private companies will go in for bigger share this time and at least the price offered by them, will create hiccups for FCI's envisaged smooth purchase from the markets of Punjab and Haryana, the granary of India together contributing more than 80 per cent to Central wheat pool.

Moreover, the new Akali-BJP government in Punjab would like to politically score over the Congress-led government at the Centre if the Union Food Ministry failed to achieve its wheat target for the second year in row.

Already, Punjab Chief Minister P S Badal announced that they would like the farmers to get highest price for wheat this year and said the private trade should not be restrained from buying wheat at higher price than the MSP of Rs 850 a quintal.

Even, Punjab Marketing Board Chairman Ajmer Singh Lakhowal, who is also a Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader, has already asked the farmers not to sell their produce at low rates and not to bring their produce to the markets.

UNI