The Hindu : National : Inclement weather affects standing wheat crop

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 14, 2007
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National

National

Inclement weather affects standing wheat crop

Gargi Parsai

Private trade allowed zero duty mports

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Tuesday said that inclement weather in the last two to three days had affected standing rabi crop in 10,000 to15,000 hectares in the wheat growing States of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Even so, the expectation is that wheat output would cross 72.5 million tonnes this year, as against 69.4 million tonnes last year. The weather affected wheat yield could vary between 3 lakh and 5 lakh tonnes.

This emerged after the late evening meeting of an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) headed by Union Minister for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee to review the crop position and the availability of wheat for the Public Distribution System and in the open market. Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram attended the meeting among others.

The EGoM decided to refer to the Union Cabinet the issue about giving a bonus in addition to the minimum support price of wheat fixed at Rs. 750 a quintal for the ensuing rabi marketing season. There was no official word on the EGoM recommended bonus price to the Cabinet but sources said the Food Ministry had given a proposal for it to be between Rs 50 and Rs 75 a quintal.

Private trade would be allowed to import duty free wheat till December 2007, against an earlier order permitting them till February 28. There is no proposal as of now, to import any further quantities of wheat for the Public Distribution System, beyond the 55 lakh tonnes allowed last year. Sources said this would be reviewed after harvest.

Mr Pawar said the government had not stopped private trade or multi-national companies from buying directly from farmers after the amendment of the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee Act.

As for the order against hoarding, he said State Governments had been empowered to implement the order under the Essential Commodities Act.

The Minister did not give out any target for procurement of wheat for the PDS but said that the position was "comfortable" as the buffer stock on April 1 would be 4.5 lakh tonnes. It had plummeted to 2 lakh tonnes last year when the decision to import wheat was taken.

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