Wheat harvesting unaffected by unseasonal showers last week

Wheat harvesting has been picking up pace across various states, despite unseasonal showers last week. Farmers say they would delay harvesting to get the excess moisture exhausted and there is not much damage to the quality.

The Food Corporation of India (FCI) expects to procure 31.8 million tonnes (mt) of wheat for the rabi season 2012-13. The procurement done last year was close to 28.3 mt.

The inclement weather in certain areas of Punjab has delayed the arrival of new crop in mandis. The hailstorm and rain on the standing crop last week raised the moisture content.

According to farmers, the permissible limit of humidity in wheat is 12 per cent. “We will have to leave the crop in the sun to lose moisture,” said Gurkirat Singh, a farmer from Sirhind.

Officials in the procuring agencies said arrivals would be delayed by at least 10 days.

The procurement of wheat in Punjab till April 17 was about 170,000 tonnes, as compared to 418,000 tonnes on the same day last year.

The officials confirmed no qualitative damage had been done to the crop as wheat loses moisture quickly.

Punjab is expected to contribute 11-11.5 mt to the central pool this year. Around 11 mt was contributed by Punjab last year. Haryana would contribute about seven mt to the central pool, as compared to 6.9 mt last year.

The procuring agencies had lifted 1.05 mt till April 17 as compared to 437,000 tonnes in the corresponding period last year.

Uttar Pradesh procured 55,000 tonnes, Rajasthan 120,000 tonnes, Madhya Pradesh 2.5 mt and Gujarat 35,000 tonnes till April 12. Madhya Pradesh is expected to procure 6.5 mt this year, substantially higher than last year.

Information with FCI shows all producing states are expected to do quantitatively better than the last year. But, consumption in the non-producing states is also on a rise.

The movement of the foodgrain from producing to consuming states may be a challenge but additional capacities are likely to come up (about 1.2 mt covered storage space by the year-end in Punjab) and there are contingency plans by state agencies for hiring additional storage.

Besides, an approval of 2 mt of silos under public-private partnership would also help in scientific storage of wheat.