Confident of Achieving Wheat Procurement Target: Says Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra

On Thursday, Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra said there is no need to panic, as there is no major loss in production but declared that there may be a “marginal” loss in wheat production due to unseasonal rains.

Nearly 2.5 lakh metric tonnes to 3 lakh metric tonnes of wheat has been procured under the Central pool so far and much of this is from Madhya Pradesh, Chopra told media.

When asked whether the Centre will relax norms for the procurement of wheat, he said, “We are yet to get the reports, but depending on the situation we will do whatever is required to help farmers and ensure that we have adequate stocks.”

In addition to this, he said, “Yesterday, we had a meeting with the Agriculture Department…there is no need for panic; there is no major loss in production. Some marginal loss may be expected but in other parts, the yield is going to be better. So, it might be the case that after some time we find that the production is as anticipated at 112 million tonnes.”

He said due to the rough weather over the last two weeks, there have been reports of some damage, basically from around 16 districts of Punjab and parts of Haryana. The estimates on the extent of damage are being worked out but, overall, the damage we are expecting in terms of production and the shortfall that we are anticipating is going to be very marginal.

“While there is some loss of production in Punjab and Haryana, we are also expecting that because of the low temperatures over the past almost a month now, the yield will be more in areas that are unaffected,” he said. “Also, to the areas of UP and Bihar, it will be greatly beneficial where late-sown varieties are going to come in the next month or so.”

Providing details of the Rice Fortification Programme, he said under Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), 269 districts in 27 states have started distributing fortified rice achieving a 100% target set for Phase II by March 2023.