Wheat Procurement in Punjab Set to be Higher at 120 Lakh MT Despite Unfavourable Weather

Wheat procurement for the current winter crops marketing season is expected to be higher as compared to the last year’s procurement. It is expected that the wheat purchase will reach 120 Lakh MT this rabi marketing season even after unseasonal rain and inclement weather. This year's procurement is nearly 24 Lakh MT than the previous year.

An official from the Punjab Food and Civil Supplies Department said that Punjab may purchase nearly 120 Lakh Metric tonnes of wheat this procurement year. He said that the crop was affected the previous season because of the rise in Mercury in the month of March.

The different districts of Punjab including Moga, Patiala, Muktsar, and Fazilka, were affected due to unseasonal rain with heavy hailstorms in the month of March and April. The inclement weather however affected around 14 Lakh hectares of the sown area out of 34.90 lakh hectares. Thus, it was supposed that there might be an opposing effect on crop yielding.

However, the State Agriculture Department noticed an average of 47.24 quintals per hectare at the time of crop-cutting experiments. As per the results of the crop-cutting experiments, the department anticipates that the wheat output can be between 160-165 lakh MT.

Additionally, while the conversation with a senior official of the Punjab Agriculture Department, it is said that yielding 19 quintals per acre is the average for Punjab. Hence, the loss in yield due to unexpected rain and hailstorm will not be as much as we expected earlier.

In the year 2022, the state has yielded 44 Quintals per Hectare and 48 quintals per hectare in 2021. Farmers earlier complained of broken grains and loss of lustre due to inclement weather and were seeking the Punjab government to relaxation of norms from the centre. Responding to the farmer's complaints, the Centre relaxed up to 18 per cent.

Moreover, the state government also offered compensation of 25 per cent against crop loss. Nearly 65 per cent of the wheat has been harvested by farmers this season. According to the official, nearly 6 lakh MT of wheat is received in the mandis per day.