Wheat production to be all-time high this year

Union home minister P Chidambaram may consider UP as a block in India's development but the state contributes 30% in the national food basket, whereas it constitutes 16% of the land and 18% of the population.

The good news is that the food share this year is all set to increase further with wheat harvest expected to be over 300 lakh metric tonnes. UP is country's top wheat producer and this year, the production is expected to be all-time high.

The wheat production target for this year was 280 lakh metric tonne. "While the conservative estimates made earlier had put the harvest at 288 lakh metric tonnes, the actual production is expected to be around 316 lakh metric tonnes," said director, agriculture, Mukesh Gautam. The production of pulses is expected to be 17 lakh metric tonnes and oil seeds 7 lakh metric tonnes, which is also high in comparison to previous years.

The increase in production is because of increase in acreage, favourable weather and good management. Against 93 lakh hectares last year, the wheat was sown in 96.90 lakh hectares in 2010-11.

The state government has set a target of procuring 40 lakh metric tonnes of wheat for public distribution system, which is one lakh more in comparison to the last year. Nine state government agencies have been asked to set up 4,443 wheat procurement centres all over the state. The wheat will be purchased at minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 1,120 per quintal from April 1 to June 30. A ceiling of 5 lakh metric tonnes has been put on the bulk purchasers, like flour mills and agri industries.

Another condition for the bulk purchasers would be that the wheat purchased will be used by them and not exported to other places. "The provision has been made to ensure good returns to farmers," said a senior state government officer. Though the bumper wheat crop would help in keeping inflation down, the farmers are a worried lot. Reason - the bumper crop means surplus which results in drop in purchase prices."Last year, farmers had to sell their wheat at Rs 900 per quintal against MSP of Rs 1,100 per quintal 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 prevent mill owners and agri industries from coercing small farmers to sell their produce at low prices. Another problem would be of the storage. Last year, thousands of metric tonnes of procured wheat was left in the open to rot due to lack of godowns. This year, besides their own godowns, the Food Corporation of India is also taking private godowns on rent for storage, said officials.