Chandigarh, March 30:

Farmers in Punjab and Haryana have pulled up a smart one on the government. Faced with reports that the centre was set to issue a directive banning private traders from lifting wheat stocks from grain markets for the procurement starting April 1, many have already sold their standing crop to companies.

With the government offering lower prices, some farmers in the two states, known as the breadbasket of India, have even taken advance money from companies and private traders and committed their produce this season to them.

The companies are offering a higher price, ranging from Rs 900 to Rs 1,000 per quintal, to farmers for their wheat. This is much higher than the minimum support price of Rs 750 plus a bonus of Rs 100, making it Rs 850 per quintal this year.

Harvesting of wheat has commenced in some areas whereas in others, following freak rainfall over the region twice in March, the crop is yet to dry up completely. “I don’t even need to go to the ‘mandi’ (grain market) to sell my produce this year. My entire stock will be picked up by a leading company in the next few days. Why should I be forced to sell to government agencies for a lower price when the private ones are paying much higher?” asked Swaran Singh, a farmer near Sirhind town who owns 15 acres of land.

Companies like ITC, Cargill India and others have been smart enough to book their wheat stocks directly with farmers in their fields. This has happened in several districts of Punjab and Haryana.

Bigger companies like ITC are said to have booked over 500,000 tonnes of wheat already with farmers.

Private traders and commission agents are trying for more bookings with a lot of bread and other food product manufacturing companies already lining up to purchase wheat stocks. The central government has declared its intention not to allow private traders and companies to lift stocks from grain markets for at least the first few days so stocks of government agencies like the Food Corporation of India do not remain empty.

This situation was faced by the government last year too when almost 20-25 per cent of wheat arrivals in the grain markets of both states were lifted by private players at higher prices than the minimum support price of Rs 650 being offered by government agencies.

The result was that buffer stocks of the government fell short of targets and the government had to import 500,000 tonnes of wheat from other countries at a much higher price of Rs 1,100. International wheat prices have soared to beyond Rs 1,200 this year.

Even the Punjab government is opposing the move to ban sale of wheat to private players. Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Badal has said the move was anti-farmer as they are being denied higher remuneration for their produce.