Even as farmers’ organisations declared huge losses for wheat crops due to untimely rains in the northern parts of the country, the Centre expressed confidence that the loss in production would be very minimum from the target of 112 million tonnes of wheat, in this rabi season.
Talking to reporters here on Thursday, Union Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra said that the Union government’s officers are on the ground in wheat-growing States such as Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, assessing the damages.
He said there had been reports of some damage from 16 districts of Punjab and some parts of Haryana. “We are also expecting that as the low temperature continues, the yield will be more in unaffected areas, and also in those late-sown areas in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Loss in production will be very minimum,” he said.
Mr. Chopra said that the country would have a record wheat production of 112.2 million tonnes, despite the inclement weather conditions. He said the increase in moisture in the grains had also created questions of quality in some areas.
“The likely production loss due to unseasonal rains in Punjab and Haryana, will be offset by yield gains expected in other wheat-producing States, because of lower temperature,” he said. “In net, I find we will probably end up achieving the production target of 112 million tonne or in the worst scenario, there may be a negligible drop in the production,” Mr. Chopra said, adding that traders need not create “panic” about the production loss.
He said the Centre had relaxed procurement quality norms for Madhya Pradesh. “Punjab and Haryana too, have sought relaxation. Our officials are in the field collecting samples and hopefully, we will take a call next week,” he said.
The Centre has so far, procured 2.5 to 3.5 lakh metric tonne of wheat from Madhya Pradesh.
