No more wheat imports for now: Pawar

Union Minister for Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Sharad Pawar on Friday said there were no plans to import more wheat immediately.

"Going by the condition of the crop and sowing operations in producing states, wheat production this year is expected to cross 75 million tonnes," he said.

"We have taken an overall review of the sowing operations and condition of the wheat crop and from the feedback received from the northern states, I am confident that in the next two months we should be able to harvest over 75 million tonnes," Pawar said on the sidelines of a conference organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) and Ministry of Agriculture. No fresh import of wheat is being thought of, at least for now, he added.

In its first wheat imports in six years, the country bought 5.5 million tonnes in 2006 and tied up contracts to buy 1.8 million tonnes last year to help control domestic prices and build buffer stocks.

He further asked Ficci to prepare a report on the obstacles being faced the farm sector and the measures required to revamp the system of agricultural marketing.

Earlier, Ficci had suggested amendments to the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act. It had urged the state governments to put in place a unified license for operating in the all markets in the state, direct procurement from farmers' fields, setting up of private market yard, contract farming and such initiatives.