...to advance buy in MP

The government will start procuring wheat five days ahead of the normal schedule in Madhya Pradesh this year, a senior government official said today.

"We will start procuring wheat from March 15 instead of Mar 20 in Madhya Pradesh, as the new crop arrivals are expected to start early this year," he said. The wheat crop is usually harvested by the first week of March in Madhya Pradesh, and by early April in Punjab and Haryana.

This year, however, farmers are likely to harvest the crop early as most of them had advanced sowing operations. Farmers had completed about 80 per cent of wheat sowing by November 20 in the ongoing rabi season.

The official said wheat procurement has been advanced only in Madhya Pradesh so far. In Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and other states, procurement will begin on schedule.

Wheat procurement usually commences on April 1 in Punjab and Haryana, and by the second week of April in Uttar Pradesh.

The government is expected to be very aggressive in procuring wheat this year as it had to import 5.5 million tonne wheat last year due to low procurement. In 2006, the government was able to procure only 9.2 million tonne wheat from farmers as against the targeted 16.2 million tonne.

This year, the government has set an ambitious wheat procurement target of 15 million tonne.

To ensure higher procurement, the government has fixed the minimum support price of wheat at Rs 750 a quintal for the 2007 rabi marketing season compared with Rs 700 last year.

It is also planning to buy wheat at open market prices to meet its requirements under the state-run welfare schemes, in case procurement falls short of the target due to high open market prices.