The Union government on May 15 relaxed procurement norms for shrivelled, broken wheat grains up to 18 percent without any value cut, with an aim to avoid distress sale of wheat and reduce the hardship of farmers.
The issue of shrivelled grains is a natural phenomenon which appeared due to the extreme heat wave that enveloped the northern part of the country in the month of March, the government said in a statement.
"These adverse weather conditions are beyond the control of the farmers and hence, they should not be penalized for such natural occurrence," it added.
Accordingly, the change in texture of the grain deserves to be sympathetically considered by government to ease the hardship of farmers. Thus, suitable relaxation in FAQ (fair and average quality) norms would protect interests of farmers and promote efficient procurement and distribution of Food grains, the government said.
Earlier, the state governments of Punjab and Haryana had written to the the Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD), seeking relaxation in Uniform Specifications of Wheat for RMS (rabi marketing season) 2022-23. They sought limit of shrivelled and broken grains, which stood at 6 percent, to be relaxed up to 20 percent.
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Earlier, central teams were deputed to Punjab and Haryana during April – May 2022 to collect very large size samples from the Mandis and these were analysed in FCI labs. In the results, it was indicated that the presence of shrivelled and broken grains in varying percentages and beyond FAQ norms.
The wheat production during the RMS 2021-22 was 1095 LMT and procurement was 433 LMT. While for RMS 2022-23, wheat production was estimated at 1113 LMT. However, with the onset of summer -- March end 2022 -- shrivelled grains and and drop in yield per acre in Punjab and Haryana was experienced. Following this, the all-India procurement target has been revised to 195 LMT of wheat.
Earlier in 2020-21 also, a similar decision was taken when FAQ norms were relaxed up to 16 percent to protect the interest of the farmers.
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