130 LMT wheat production likely in Punjab, govt scrambles to find storage space

Ruchika M Khanna

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Chandigarh, March 26

With just five days to go for the start of the wheat procurement season, food procurement agencies are scrambling to find adequate storage space for the fresh stock of wheat.

As against 125-130 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of marketable surplus of wheat expected to arrive in mandis, the space available to store the wheat is just 55-60 LMT. This means that there is a shortage of about 70 LMT of space.

Space to store only 60 LMT crop

As against 125-130 LMTof wheat expected to arrive in mandis, the space available to store the wheat is just 55-60 LMT. This means that there is a shortage of about 70 LMT of space.

Nod to Rs 27,000 cr Cash Credit Limit

The RBI has already approved the cash credit limit (CCL) to purchase 130 LMT of wheat. The CCL sought by the Punjab Government this year was Rs 30,770 crore and the RBI has approved Rs 27,077.91 crore. Vikas Garg, Secretary, food and supply

B Srinivasan, General Manager, Food Corporation of India, Punjab Region, has told The Tribune, that they are working to ensure that there is enough storage space for the new crop to be procured. “While 30 LMT of wheat will be stored in the covered and plinth storage, we also have a plan to move out 35 LMT of old grains to the recipient states, while the wheat procurement is on. Rice, shelled from paddy procured in 2023, is also being moved to recipient states immediately after its milling,” he said.

A bumper wheat crop is expected this year. The total area under wheat, according to officials in the state Agriculture Department, is 35.08 lakh hectares. As much as 161.31 LMT of wheat production is expected this year, of which 125-130 LMT will be brought to mandis for procurement.

Director, Agriculture, Jaswant Singh told The Tribune that though the weather conditions pointed to a bumper harvest and higher yield of wheat, the exact quantity would be known only after the crop-cutting experiments were conducted within a week.

Officials in the department say that though the procurement season, officially commences on April 1, the crop will start reaching the mandis only in the second week of April.

“The weather condition has remained conducive, with the long and intense cold ensuring that the yield remains high. But harvesting will take another fortnight,” Agriculture Development Officer, Gurdaspur, Manpreet Singh said.