Wheat being bought above MSP: Hisar Mandi officials

Deepender Deswal

Hisar, April 15

Farmer Prem Singh of Ludas village, who brought his wheat grown on four acres to the mandi, sold it at a rate of Rs 2,040 per quintal to arhtiyas at Hisar grain market. But another farmer, from Kirtan village, sold 36 quintals to a group of households in Canal colony in Hisar for Rs 2,200 per quintal. One of the residents there, Ran Singh, had contacted the farmer at Kirtan village to supply wheat as 10 families in the colony needed to purchase their annual quota of grain.

Meanwhile, Ishwar Singh of Khairi village at Uklana has decided to wait for 10 more days to sell off his 30 quintal produce.

Even as the new yield is arriving in the mandis, wheat is witnessing a rate above the MSP. Arhtiyas and the officials of the market committee said that it is for the first time during procurement that the fresh yield of wheat is fetching prices above the MSP of Rs 2,015. While the government purchases the crop only on MSP, traders (arhtiyas) could offer a higher price.

Arhtiya Deepak said that farmers and arhtiyas are happy with the above-MSP rates. “We are expecting higher prices in the next few days.” Expecting higher prices in the next few months, urban households are purchasing wheat in bulk for domestic consumption, he added.

Market committee secretary Gagan Joshi informed that a total of 17,853 quintals of wheat had arrived in Hisar mandi till today. “Last year, the arrival was 1.43 lakh quintals till this day.

The traders said that the high demand of wheat in the international market is the reason behind the upward trend in prices.

Govt procurement may fall

Sources revealed that government agencies had procured 81 lakh MT wheat last year. It was 74 lakh MT in 2020 and 93.63 lakh MT in 2019. Almost 100 per cent of the produce which arrived in mandis had been procured by government agencies. “I agree with traders that government procurement could fall this time by 50 per cent,” admitted an official.