Wheat lifting at 151 lakh tonne in Punjab

The total lifting so far in Punjab has been highest in last six years while procurement in Haryana has broken last three years record, as per FCI data.

Out of total wheat procurement of 99.35 lakh MT so far in Punjab, government agencies and FCI lifted 93.95 lakh MT for central pool while rest is procured by private traders and state agencies for state pool, official said.

In case of Haryana, out of total arrival of wheat of 50.98 lakh MT, government agencies and FCI have lifted 50.40 lakh MT.

The share of both states towards central pool has been phenomenal this year as so far procurement figures are way ahead of the Union government's targeted lifting of 85 lakh tonnes of wheat from Punjab and 40 lakh tonnes from Haryana.

However, the share of private traders in total wheat lifting has been abysmally low at 2.71 per cent and 1.13 per cent in Punjab and Haryana respectively during this season.

According to government officials, the arrival of wheat in both states has started becoming lower day by day and it is expected that within next 8 to 10 days wheat arrival would be negligible in the grain markets.

The daily arrival of wheat has now come down to 70,000 MT in Punjab and 30,000 MT in Haryana.

Enthused over the quantum jump in the arrival of wheat crop during this rabi marketing season, both Punjab and Haryana governments are now anticipating rise in production to 155 lakh MT and 103 lakh MT respectively against the target of 145 lakh MT in case of Punjab and 100 lakh MT in case of Haryana.

"The wheat production is all set to touch 155 lakh tonnes this year because of good crop," Punjab Agriculture Department, joint director, Gurdial Singh said.

Similarly, Haryana is also hopeful of achieving 103 lakh tonnes of wheat output this year. "There are several factors which will lead to higher output this year which include higher MSP, favourable climatic conditions and supply of good quality of seed to farmers," said an official of Haryana agriculture department.