As the wheat harvest and procurement season is about to begin in March, the Centre said it was hopeful of resolving the farmers’ protests before it. Union Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra told reporters here on Thursday that the Centre was willing to hold further talks with farmers on their demands. More than 50% of the wheat procurement by the Food Corporation of India is from Punjab and Haryana.
Mr. Chopra said the Centre would address the concerns of farmers. “The government had given an offer to the farmer leaders considering their concerns such as lowering of water table and soil quality. However, they have rejected the proposal,” he said. “As told by the Agriculture Minister, we are willing for further talks. We are happy to talk to them. Probably, we were not able to communicate the full intent. I think constant communication will help resolve the communication gap,” Mr. Chopra added.
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Record harvest
Mr. Chopra was hopeful that the issues would be resolved much in advance of the start of the wheat procurement season. “I don’t think it will have any impact,” he said, when asked if the protests create any hurdles for procurement. He said if the weather continues like this for the next 10-15 days, the Centre is hopeful of a record harvest. “Wheat crop is very good. Fortunately, there has been no premature warming of the weather. Hopefully if this continues for 10-15 days more, we can expect a bumper crop,” he said, and added that most States will start procurement from March 1-15. “Uttar Pradesh has said it intends to start procurement from March 1,” he said.
