March 31, 2011
 

India's wheat production to hit all-time high this year

 

 

Although Union home minister, P Chidambaram, might see Uttar Pradesh as an impediment to India's development, it is India's key wheat producer and the production is expected to hit an all-time high this year.

 

The state contributes 30% to the nation's food basket although it makes up 16% of the land and 18% of the population.

 

The good news is that the food share this year is ready to increase more with wheat harvest expected to be over 30 million tonnes.

 

The wheat production target for this year was 28 million tonnes.

 

"While the conservative estimates made earlier had put the harvest at 28.8 million tonnes, the actual production is expected to be around 31.6 million tonnes," said the Director of Agriculture, Mukesh Gautam.

 

The rise in production is because of rise in acreage, favourable weather and good management. Against 930,000 hectares last year, the wheat was planted in 9.69 million hectares in 2010-11.

 

The state government aims to purchase four million tonnes of wheat for public distribution system, which is 100,000 tonnes higher as compared to the last year. Nine state government agencies have been requested to set up 4,443 wheat procurement centres throughout the state.

 

The wheat will be bought at minimum support price (MSP) of INR1,120/quintal (US$25) from April 1 to June 30.

 

A ceiling of 500,000 tonnes has been put on the bulk buyers, like flour mills and agri industries.

 

Although the bumper wheat crop would aid in keeping inflation down, the farmers are concerned, because the bumper crop means excess which would cause drops in buying prices.

 

"Last year, farmers had to sell their wheat at INR900/quintal (US$20) against MSP of INR1,100/quintal (US$25) to private mills due to surplus. The farmers had suffered losses also due to shrivelling of wheat grains due to excessive heat in the month of March," said Yogendra Singh, a farmer.

 

Kisan Jagriti Manch president, Sudhir Kumar, said that the government will have to stop mill owners and agri industries from cheating small farmers to sell their produce at low prices. Another challenge would be storage. Last year, thousands of tonnes of purchased wheat were left in the open to rot because of a lack of godowns. This year, other than their own godowns, the Food Corporation of India is also taking private godowns on rent for storage, said officials.