Thaindian News

Chandigarh, April 11 (IANS) Wheat procurement in Punjab and Haryana started April 1 but the arrival of the crop in grain markets in the two states so far has been low as compared to last year, officials said here Monday.

Officials, who are expecting a bumper crop this year like in the last two years, said wheat arrivals in markets would pick up after April 13-14, when the harvesting festival of Baisakhi is celebrated.

Both Punjab and Haryana contribute over 60 percent of the total national food grain kitty.

Food and supplies officials in Punjab said that till Sunday evening only 1,704 tonnes of wheat was procured by government agencies and private millers as compared to nearly 609,619 tonnes procured in the same period last year.

“The lower arrival of wheat in grain markets is due to the inclement weather over the region in recent days, due to which farmers have delayed the harvest of the crop. But things will normalise by the end of this week,” a Punjab food and supplies official told IANS.

In 2010, Punjab procured nearly 105 lakh tonnes of wheat.

The Punjab government has set up 1,734 procurement centres across the state.

The state government has appointed senior officers at the state and district level to monitor the procurement.

In neighbouring Haryana, the total wheat arrival in grain markets till Sunday evening was 44,569 tonnes.

A spokesman of the Haryana food and supplies department said that 44,012 tonnes of wheat has been purchased by the six government agencies while the rest was purchased by private traders.