Haryana set to miss its wheat procurement target this year

Amid the Haryana government’s claims of a good yield despite unseasonal rains in the harvesting season, the state is set to miss its procurement target for the second consecutive year.

As per information, government agencies had earlier predicted to procure 85 lakh MT of wheat but later after consultation with states, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) estimated that Haryana’s wheat procurement target for this season is set to be 75 lakh MT.

But now, officials associated with procurement operations are predicting that the state’s procurement may slip below 65 lakh MT.

As per figures, government agencies have so far procured 58.59 lakh MT wheat from 408 mandis and procurement centres of the state till date while the total arrival of wheat has reached to 51.77 lakh MT. The maximum wheat has arrived in the mandis of Karnal district (6.92 lakh MT) followed by Kurukshetra (5.80 lakh MT), Jind (5.44 lakh MT), Sirsa (5.16 lakh MT), Fatehabad (4.55 lakh MT), Kurukshetra (4.36 lakh MT) and Hisar (3,30 lakh MT).

Arrivals slowing down

Officials say that over 80% of harvesting has already been completed and now the per day arrival in mandis has receded to around 2 lakh MT from 5 to 6 lakh MT earlier.

“Over 90% of our farmers have sold their produce and now around 5 to 10% produce is yet to come to the mandi,” said Ajaib Singh, a commission agent of Indri grain market of Karnal district.

However, the fall in the procurement figures in Haryana may also disturb the procurement targets of FCI which is aiming to purchase 34.15 million MT of wheat in the marketing season 2023.

Private players buying above MSP

As per farmers, arhtiyas and mandi officials, the biggest reason behind low procurement by government agencies is the purchase by private players. Private players are buying wheat well above the minimum support price in the open market. Besides, seed companies and flour mills are paying ₹100 to ₹150 more than the MSP of ₹2,125 per quintal. “I sold my entire produce of around 40 acres to a private seed company at ₹120 above the MSP. I did not sell anything to the government agencies,” said a farmer from Yamunanagar district.

“This year, I sold 40 quintals of wheat to landless labourers in my village as they paid ₹100 per quintal more than the MSP,” said another farmer Mohan Lal, who had come to sell his last lot of wheat at Ladwa grain market.

Arrival from UP dips

In the previous years, wheat arrivals from Uttar Pradesh also used to contribute to Haryana’s procurement figures but this time, farmers from the neighbouring state are sticking to their local markets where they are fetching good rates.

“Earlier, farmers from UP used to sell their produce in our mandi but this year, they did not come here as they said that they were getting a good price for their produce in their hometowns,” said an arhtiyas from Ladwa mandi on the condition of anonymity.

Last year (2022-23) too, Haryana’s wheat procurement had dropped by nearly 50% as government agencies could procure only 41 lakh MT against 85 lakh MT procured in 2021-22.

When contacted, Pankaj Agarwal, commissioner and secretary, Haryana food, civil supplies and consumer affairs department, said, “The daily arrivals have dipped below 2 lakh MT. But we are still hopeful that the procurement figures may reach around 65 lakh MT.” He added that the targets are just tentative figures to make arrangements for hassle-free procurement.