Wheat stocks hit five-year low in Punjab - Hindustan Times
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Wheat stocks hit five-year low in Punjab

By, Chandigarh
May 27, 2022 12:52 AM IST

The fall in wheat stocks in Punjab this rabi season is 40 to 50% less as compared to the previous five years

Due to yield loss and early delivery of harvested grains to the FCI, the wheat stocks in godowns this rabi season in Punjab have dipped to a five-year low, registering a 40-50% fall in the total storage which is expected to negatively affect the state revenue and the rural economy.

Wheat stocks hit five-year low in Punjab (HT)
Wheat stocks hit five-year low in Punjab (HT)

Owing to low stocks, most of the covered area plinths (CAP), storage facility made in the open over raised structures and covered with tarpaulin to save stocks from the vagaries of weather, have been left empty. The fall in the stocks this season is 40 to 50% less as compared to the previous years.

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An official of the food department said that lesser stocks means fall in state revenue from food procurement which will also adversely impact the rural economy.

“Owing to fall in wheat stocks in our godowns this rabi season, there is less work for the storage staff hired temporarily every year, transport contractors, loading-unloading labour and fumigation contractors,” the official said, adding all these charges runs into a few hundred crores which now would not come into the kitty of the people in the state.

The state godowns has total wheat stocks of 92 lakh tonnes, witnessing an acute fall as compared to corresponding time of the previous years. In 2021, state godowns had 183 lakh tonnes of wheat stocks and 180 lakh tonnes in 2020, 159 lakh tonnes in 2019 and 155 lakh tonnes in 2018.

In 2019, the state warehouses had 106 lakh tonnes of rice, 107 lakh tonnes in 2020 and 111 lakh tonnes in 2020, adding burden on the stocks capacity. The state has a total capacity of 170 lakh tonnes in covered godowns and 100 lakh tonnes in the CAP storage.

Of the total CAP storage, almost 60% will go empty, leading to heavy losses to the godowns owners.

As against the expectation of procuring 135 lakh tonnes wheat this season, the procurement was restricted to 96 lakh tonnes, suffering a fall of 29%.

Apart from the low yield, the fall in stocks is also being attributed to the fast delivery taken by the FCI as within the past two months. Since the procurement started, FCI has transported 17 lakh tonnes of wheat to the consumer states.

Centre reduces mandi fee, no commitment on RDF

The centre has imposed a cut of 1% on the mandi fee to be paid to Punjab on purchase of wheat in the current season.

However, the Centre is silent on the rural development fund (RDF) as there is no mention of it in the provisional cost sheet received by the state’s food department. State government charge 3% RDF on the food grain procurement from the Centre.

In the 2021 kharif season, ahead of the state polls, the Centre had stopped last year’s RDF payment on paddy procurement asking the state government to amend rural development fund act, by restricting its usage in the rural parts of the state and maintenance of the procurement infrastructure.

As per the cost sheet, payment of dami to the arhtiyas has also been capped to 46 per quintal of wheat, on which minimum support price of 2,015 per quintal was offered, which has restricted to 2.3% against a demand of 2.5% by the state arhtiyas who support the procurement system.

As against the expected revenue, 1,800 crore from rabi season (from 3% each mandi fee and rural development fund-RDF), the state is expected to mop 1,200 crore, witnessing a fall of 600 crore. However, due to reduction in mandi fee by 1% and Centre giving no commitment on the RDF, the actual revenue realisation would be around 400 crore.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Gurpreet Singh Nibber is an Assistant Editor with the Punjab bureau. He covers politics, agriculture, power sector, environment, Sikh religious affairs and the Punjabi diaspora.

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