Punjab: FCI recommends easing quality norms for wheat procurement
Food Corporation of India has recommended relaxing wheat procurement norms after crop damage from unseasonal rains and hailstorms. Proposed relaxations include higher limits for shrivelled, damaged grains and loss of lustre. Final approval rests with the Centre, aiming to support farmers and ensure smoother procurement amid quality concerns.
The Food Corporation of India (FCI) on Thursday recommended relaxing quality norms for wheat procurement in the current season following parallel investigations carried out by it in addition to the teams sent by the Union ministry of food and public distribution.
The wheat crop in the state suffered damage due to unseasonal rains and hailstorms in the fag end of March and the first week of April, leading to widespread lodging and damage to grains.
The state government had also sought relaxation in norms on April 9, citing crop damage.
To be sure, the Centre’s decision on relaxation of norms will depend on the report and recommendation made by the six teams of ministry of food and public distribution, who were in the state the past three days and have collected nearly 300 samples from 78 mandis in 22 districts. The mandis in Pathankot were excluded from the sample collection as they have not reported any wheat arrivals yet.
On Wednesday, the arrivals picked up pace across the state. According to data, the state mandis received 4.5 lakh tonnes of produce on a single day, taking the total arrivals of 10 lakh tonnes since procurement began on April 1.
The FCI, the Centre’s body that distributes food grains (wheat and rice) from producing states to consumer states in the country, has sent its report to its Delhi headquarters recommending procurement of wheat having 80% loss in lustre, 20% shrivelled grains and 6% damaged grains without any value cut.
The regional office of FCI report will be further sent it to the Union food ministry.
However, the relaxation will depend on the recommendations made by the six teams from the Union ministry of food and public distribution.
“Final relaxation will depend on the report submitted by the central teams. As per our information, the report of quality analysis of the freshly harvested wheat crop has been submitted to the central ministry,” said an official of the state food and civil supplies department, who didn’t wish to be named.
On April 12, the staff of Punjab’s four procurement agencies, Pungrain, Punsup, Markfed and Punjab state warehousing corporation (PSWC) staff had halted the wheat procurement, alleging pressure “to purchase the freshly harvested crop which has high moisture content, ignoring the quality standards.”
They had already announced that they would not procure the damaged lots of the grain until the relaxation of norms is eased.
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Source : Hindustan Times
