Punjab: Wheat producers in the state excited by increased production

Punjab: Farmers are happy with the early indications of a good wheat crop this year. The yield is likely to increase by about 4 quintals per acre. Commission agents and farmers told The Tribune that wheat yield is likely to be 25-26 quintals per acre this year as against 21-22 quintals per acre last year. This year’s wheat procurement season will be the shortest ever, with maximum arrivals of the crop expected for the next 10 days. The food and supplies secretary will hold a meeting of all deputy commissioners on Wednesday to give them guidelines to deal with the arrival of wheat. Harbans Singh Rosha, president of the Arhtiya Association at Khanna grain market, said that though the season has just begun, the crop yield is promising a bumper harvest.

Mahinder Krishan Chand Arora, commission agent at Rajpura Mandi, said the yield has increased by 3-4 quintals per acre so far. He said private players are buying wheat at Rs 5 per quintal above the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 2,425 per quintal. Agriculture department officials said crop cutting experiments are still going on and the exact wheat yield will be known only after the results are fully analysed. “Only 40 per cent of the crop cutting experiments have been completed so far. We will know the exact increase in yield only after these experiments are over,” an official said. Meanwhile, about 4.59 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of wheat has arrived in the mandis since the beginning of the procurement season this year. Of this, about 2.32 LMT arrived on Tuesday alone. Sources said the arrivals are likely to increase to 8-10 LMT per day in the coming 8-10 days. The Centre has cut the procurement season by 15 days this year. Usually the wheat procurement season is from April 1 to May 31, but this year it will end on May 15.