Haryana: Wheat arrivals pick up pace, 3.53 lakh MT procured so far
Haryana has procured 3.53 lakh MT of wheat by April 9—nearly four times more than last year—thanks to early harvesting and minimal rainfall. Palwal leads in procurement and arrivals. However, slow lifting and delayed contractor finalizations could cause bottlenecks post-Baisakhi. Haryana targets 75 lakh MT wheat procurement, while IIWBR introduced two new high-yield, climate-resilient wheat varieties.
Amid the ongoing wheat procurement season by the food, civil supplies and consumer affairs department in Haryana, the agencies have so far purchased the crop four times this year as compared to 2024.
According to the data by the Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board (HSAMB) issued on Thursday, the agencies have purchased 3.53 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of wheat till April 9, while it was 93,992.47 MT till same date last year.
The list shows that Palwal district has recorded 93,417.10 MT purchase of crop, the highest in the state, followed by Faridabad (48,432.40 MT), Sonepat (38,570.38 MT) and Gurugram (28,985.75 MT).
In terms of wheat arrival, out of total 6.20 lakh MT in the state, Palwal tops the chart with 1.19 lakh MT. Similarly, Sonepat has received 69,238.25 MT of crop, Karnal (54,449.25 MT) and Faridabad (52,479.90 MT).
The data also reveals the slow state of lifting in the state as only 25,054 MT of wheat has been lifted by the agencies.
An official with the food, civil supplies and consumer affairs department, who wished not to be named, attributed higher purchase figures to less instance of rain in the months of February and March unlike last year.
This could be the reason that the wheat arrival is early and particularly in most of the South Haryana districts that generally witness early harvesting, the official quoted above said.
The procurement officially began on April 1, but due to non-finalization of transport and labour contractors, the actual purchase started on Tuesday at almost all 415 purchase centres in the state.
However, sources believe that owing to delayed process on part of the department, the lifting issues are likely to arise after Baisakhi when the mandis will get jam-packed.
In view of the circumstances, several lawmakers and state officials have been visiting the mandis in the region.
Assembly speaker Harvinder Kalyan on Thursday inspected the grain market at his Gharounda constituency in Karnal and chaired a meeting of market association, commission agents and procurement agencies.
He said that he has instructed the officials concerned that farmers should not face any kind of problem at the mandi and purchase should be done on time, a statement read.
Similarly, Vijay Dahiya, commissioner and secretary, animal husbandry and dairy department, also inspected the grain markets of Ambala city, Ambala Cantonment and Saha along with administrative officials in view of the procurement process.
Haryana has set a target to procure 75 lakh MT wheat of the total production of about 116.24 lakh MT, at the minimum support price (MSP) fixed at ₹2,425 per quintal.
According to the agriculture department, wheat has been sown in an area of 24.63 lakh hectares in the state.
2 wheat verities developed by IIWBR released
The Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (IIWBR), Karnal on Thursday said that the Central Varietal Release Committee (CVRC) has released 12 high-yielding and climate-resilient wheat varieties including two varieties developed by scientists of the institute.
All the varieties will be cultivable across various agro-climatic regions of the country.
Dr Ratan Tiwari, director, ICAR-IIWBR, said the two varieties — DBW-386 (Karan Khushboo) is recommended for the North-Eastern plains zone and DBW 443 (Karan Saanvi) is for the Peninsular Zone.
He said that the new varieties were aimed to raise farmers’ profitability, provide higher yield and ensuring that the crop is climate- and disease-resistant.
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Source : Hindustan Times
