Govt agencies procure 56.04 lakh MT wheat from Haryana mandis
As per the ground reports from major wheat-producing belts of the northern districts of the state, the harvesting is near completion and the day’s arrival of produce in mandis of Haryana has dropped below one lakh MT
As the wheat harvesting nears end, the overall procurement in Haryana has reached 56.04 lakh metric tonnes (MT) against the target of 75 lakh MT fixed by the Food Corporation of India.
As per the ground reports from major wheat-producing belts of the northern districts of the state, the harvesting is near completion and the day’s arrival of produce in mandis of Haryana has dropped below one lakh MT.
The procurement figures revealed that with the highest 7.04 lakh MT wheat, Karnal district leads in the wheat procurement, followed by Kaithal with 6.05 lakh MT, Jind with 5.85 lakh MT, Sirsa with 5.23 lakh MT, Kurukshetra with 4.59 lakh MT, Sonepat with 3.22 lakh MT, Yamunanagar (2.44 lakh MT), Panipat (2.16 lakh MT), Ambala (2.09 lakh MT) and Palwal (1.68 lakh MT).
Officials associated with the procurement operations said total 57.79 lakh MT wheat has reached the mandis of Haryana till Thursday evening and as the arrival has dipped to around 50,000 MT, the overall procurement is likely to remain below 65 lakh MT, which may force the government to revise the procurement target.
However, the procurement figures have already crossed last year’s 41.86 lakh MT, when the state had witnessed around 50% decline in the overall wheat output -- the lowest in the past 10 years.
The figures revealed that besides 2022-23, wheat procurement in Haryana did not fall below 65 lakh MT since 2012-13 when the government agencies could procure only 58.55 lakh MT wheat.
Slow lifting delays payments
Due to poor lifting of procured wheat from the mandis, farmers and arhtiyas are bearing the brunt as this has led to a delay in the disbursement of payments.
As per the information, out of the total 56.04 lakh MT wheat procured in the state so far, payments for 31.91 lakh MT were disbursed as the government agencies deposited only ₹7,020 crore into the bank accounts of farmers.
“The government agencies have not yet cleared the payments of the farmers who had sold their produce in the first week of April. The payments will not be cleared until the lifting is completed,” said Naresh Kumar, an arhtiya from Kurukshetra district.