Staggered public procurement of food grains in Punjab: New policy regime

SUKHPAL SINGH; M K SEKHON; SUNNY KUMAR

doi:10.56093/ijas.v91i10.117517

Authors

SUKHPAL SINGH Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab 141 027, India
M K SEKHON Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab 141 027, India
SUNNY KUMAR Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab 141 027, India

https://doi.org/10.56093/ijas.v91i10.117517

Keywords:

Foodgrains, Marketed Surplus, Paddy, Staggered procurement, Wheat

Abstract

Punjab has been significantly contributing to the central pool of food reserves. But the marketing efficiency of farm produce must be improved in the context of new policy regime. The present study was undertaken during 2019â€“20 to examine the farmersâ€™ perspectives and challenges that emerged in the initiation of an alternative procurement approach for foodgrains. The results revealed that the marketed surplus of wheat was around 232 q and about 90% of the wheat production is being sold in the market. The selected farmers sold about 95% of their marketed surplus in the postharvest period and just 5% sold during the lean period in case of wheat crop. Further, among all the categories, the large farmers sold their produce in a lean period followed by medium and small farmers. The month-wise pattern of the total market arrival clearly revealed that more than 90% of the wheat arrived during the month of April and May and prices of wheat crops fluctuate during the lean period. On the other hand, the largest volume of paddy arrived in the month of October and November and paddy price remained almost at par with MSP in the post-harvest period. By considering all the aspects, it was found that the scheme of staggered procurement is feasible for the wheat crop only as the majority of farmers were willing to adopt this scheme. In the whole process, the additional income to the farmers comprises a sum of â‚¹ 900 crores in the marketing season of the wheat crop.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Acharya S S and Aggarwal N L. 2021. Agricultural Marketing in India. Oxford and IBH Publishing, New Delhi.

Chand R and Shinoj P. 2012. Temporal and spatial variations in agricultural growth and its determinants. Economic and Political Weekly 47 (26 & 27): 55–64.

Chand R. 2012. Development policies and agricultural markets, Economic and Political Weekly 47(52): 53–63.

Dhillon B S and Sidhu R S. 2020.Two-step procurement can boost grain gains, The Tribune, January 20.

Dreze Jean 2006. Universalization with quality: ICDS in a rights perspective, Economic and Political Weekly 41(34): 3706–3515.

GOI. 2010. Manual on agricultural prices and marketing. Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, CSO, CSO-MAPM, New Delhi.

Kannan Elumalai, K Pramodh, Vishnu Kedar and Abhraham Hanna. 2015. Assessment of pre and post-harvest losses of rice and red gram in Karnataka, Agricultural Situation in India 72(9): 101–05.

Kumar D and Kalita P. 2017. Reducing postharvest losses during storage of grain crops to strengthen food security in developing countries. Foods 6(8): 1–22 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/foods6010008

Mishra A and Agrawal A. 2017. Impact of WTO on Indian agriculture, contemporary concern study. Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, India

PAU. 2020. Agricultural Handbook, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India.

Sawicka Barbara. 2019. Post-harvest losses of agricultural produce, Sustainable Development 1: 1–16 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69626-3_40-1

Tripathi A K. 2012. Agricultural price policy, output, and farm profitability—Examining linkages during post-reform period in India. Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development 10(1): 91–111.