Dip in wheat procurement in MP, govt cites higher market price as reason
By Shruti Tomar
After securing record high procurement of wheat in India in 2021, Madhya Pradesh saw a 33% dip in 2024 as compared to 2023, the highest for any state in India, according to data provided by the state agricultural department. The sale of wheat also dipped by 10% across 175 open markets in the state.
In absolute terms, MP is the only state in India where procurement decreased from 7.1 million tonnes (MT) in 2023 to 4.8 MT in 2024 even though the production fell from 22.41 MT in 2023 to 21.21 MT in 2024.
In 2020-21, MP beat Punjab at state procurements, purchasing 12.5 MT of wheat. However, since then the government procurement from farmers has reduced, as private players buy wheat directly from farmers.
The latest data showed that compared to last year, the sale of wheat in 175 grain markets of MP was 5,00,000 tonnes less. In 2023, from March to June 30, 6.4 MT wheat had been sold and this year only 5.9 MT wheat has been sold, according to data provided by the Mandi Board that manages all grain markets in the state.
Farmers are getting ₹2,800 to ₹3,100 per quintal for the best quality Sharbati and Lokman wheat while the state government was giving a bonus of ₹125 per quintal on MSP of ₹2,275 per quintal. But farmers are expecting further increase in prices.
“The reason behind lesser sale of wheat at the procurement centres and mandis is the high price of wheat in the private market due to the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war. Lesser production of wheat is also a reason behind the fall in sales at markets and at the procurement centre. India, including MP, saw the hottest February and March, which are the ripening season of wheat, and untimely rainfall and hailstorm, affecting the production and quality,” said Paramjeet Singh, a farm activist.
Om Prakash Dhakad, a farmer who owns 13 acres of land in Baraha village of Raisen district, said, “The production of wheat has been decreased by five quintal per acre. I didn’t sell the produce to get better price from private buyers to compensate for the loss.”
“Farmers didn’t come to procurement centres and markets because of the high prices of wheat. Though there was a decrease in production, especially in Malwa region, it is not more than 5%,” said M Silvendran, secretary, MP farm welfare and agriculture department.
Experts believe that more than 50% of wheat of MP has either been hoarded by farmers or sold directly to wheat traders.
“Marginal and small farmers can’t afford to hoard the wheat for a long time as they need money to fulfill their needs. Last year too, the price was high but more than 65% wheat was sold to Mandis and at procurement centre till first week of July but this time only 40% wheat has been sold which clearly shows high dip in production due to poor weather,” said GS Chundawat, an agricultural expert, who was worked with agriculture science institutes in the state.
This article has been republished from The Hindustan Times.