Labour shortage affects wheat procurement

The Food Corporation of India has set an ambitious target of 26 million tonnes (MT) of wheat procurement, but Punjab, the largest contributor to the national kitty, may face procurement blues.

This rabi season, labour shortage may create a bottleneck for wheat procurement in the state. Harvesting of wheat, a major rabi crop, will start after

April 13 and is expected to take six weeks to complete.

Over 11 million tonnes of wheat will be procured for the central pool by various government agencies from 1,700 mandis in Punjab. The state alone contributes about 40 per cent of the total wheat procured by the government and any delay in the process could derail the movement of wheat to consumer states.

 

Punjab’s agriculture is primarily dependent on migrant labourers from lesser developed states. The administrative restructuring and implementation of the employment guarantee schemes in Bihar has also affected the influx of labour to Punjab. The maximum wage of Rs 150 per day for loading, unloading, cleaning, filling up of sacks and sewing the gunny bags is not lucrative for the labourers, says Harbans Singh Rosha, chairman of the marketing committee in Khanna — the largest grain market in Punjab, about 100 km from Chandigarh, that handles about 2 million tonnes every season.

According to Chairman of Patiala Arhtiya Association M R Gupta, besides the dearth of storage space in mandis following an increase in output, there is a severe shortage of manpower. The government agencies too, he said, are short of hands.

“One inspector is assigned four or five mandis for purchase. He has to go from one stock pile to another to assess the quality of grain. The grain should be lifted within 24 hours of arrival as per the guidelines of the Punjab Mandi Board but it takes 8-10 days or more for transporting bags to godowns.”

Pawan Kumar of Bhatinda Mandi said grains lose the moisture content if it is not lifted in time and the delay in movement causes loss to the arhtiyas and effects the quality of grain.

FCI officials expect labourers to arrive from other states in the second week of April.

Global output estimate
PTI adds: Global wheat output is estimated to rise by 3.4 per cent to 676 million tonnes in 2011 as high global prices led to an increase in the area under coverage in many countries, UN's body Food and Agriculture Oraganisation (FAO) on Wednesday said.

“FAO first forecast for world wheat production in 2011 stands at 676 million tonnes, 3.4 per cent up from 2010,” it said in a statement on its website. The production in 2011 would still be below the bumper harvests in 2008 and 2009, it added.