BS Dhillon & RS Sidhu
INDIA faced major foodgrain shortage up to the late 1960s. The development of high-yielding wheat seeds and the availability of other inputs like fertilisers, irrigation water and credit led to the Green Revolution in the second half of the 1960s. It was followed by the development of high-yielding varieties of paddy. To promote the cultivation of paddy, a non-traditional crop in Punjab, the government gave financial support to the farmers for purposes such as drawing groundwater. The government took a landmark policy decision to fix the minimum support price (MSP) and the procurement of wheat and paddy by its agencies, besides building marketing infrastructure. The procurement of the produce at the MSP assured farmers of reasonably remunerative returns, leading to a rise in the area under paddy and wheat, the most important staple foodgrains in India. The government developed a national foodgrain pool from which need-based supply of the grains was made to various states for distribution among the public at reasonable prices.
Punjab has been the largest contributor to the Central foodgrain pool since 1966. In the last marketing year (2018-19), 11.3 million metric tonnes of rice (parmal) — 17 million metric tonnes of paddy was procured and shelled to have rice for the Central pool — and 12.9 million metric tonnes of wheat were procured from Punjab for the Central pool. The state’s contribution to the pool stood at 25.5 per cent for rice and 37.8 per cent for wheat (as on August 26, 2019, as per the FCI website).
The harvesting of paddy (parmal) and wheat in Punjab is fully mechanised. Most farmers use the combine harvester. They transfer the produce from the combine harvester to tractor-trailers and carry it directly to the market. They have to do so as they have to purchase inputs for the sowing of the next crop, the duration for which is extremely short in case of paddy harvesting and wheat sowing. Further, they are tempted to save on unloading/loading labour which they have to incur if they bring the produce to their grain yard and carry it to the grain market after a day or so. Paddy harvesting generally starts in the first week of October. Due to low ambient temperature at that time, the produce sometimes has moisture percentage higher than that specified for procurement. Therefore, farmers face delay in selling the produce.
With climate volatility, the issue of high grain moisture in paddy at harvest may become more frequent and serious, the way it happened during 2018-19. During kharif 2018, there was heavy rain and low temperature from September 22 onwards till paddy harvesting. During rabi 2018-19 also, there was unseasonal rain from the last week of January till wheat harvesting. The procurement and storage of produce having high moisture content is bound to get affected by fungi. Wheat grain is infected with aspergillus, penicillium and other fungi which produce substances harmful to humans and animals. High moisture in paddy enhances infection by fusarium, alternaria and other fungi. Thus, it is essential that the grain produce must be properly dried for safe storage.
There is an administrative issue also if grains with high moisture percentage are procured. During storage, such grains lose moisture, which leads to a loss of grain weight. This loss is not uniform. It depends on factors like initial moisture, ambient temperature and relative humidity, and the placement of stack in the store. The adjustment of grain weight is a complex issue.
To overcome the problems posed by high moisture percentage in the grain, it is proposed that two-step procurement may be considered. In Punjab, paddy procurement starts on November 1 and that of wheat on April 1. The second phase can start around September 15 (wheat) and around March 15 (paddy), leaving a gap of a few days between the second step of one crop and the first- step procurement of the other crop. This gap will help in readying the market yards and other infrastructure for the procurement of the main crop.
The two-step process may not increase the duration of the procurement period as the total quantity of grain to be procured remains the same, but if the period is increased that will lessen the pressure of procurement of the main crop. Two-step procurement will solve the problem of high moisture content in grains as the farmer will dry the produce and then store it. Moreover, the farmers will pay due attention during the storage, and this will reduce grain losses; the grain is also expected to have better quality compared to the grain stored during that period by public sector agencies. Many a time, the procurement agencies have to store the procured grain in the open using plinths because of shortage of facilities for scientific storage, which leads to physical losses and also adversely affects grain quality.
To motivate the farmers to hold back the produce and store it for about five-six months, the MSP for the second-step procurement has to be higher than the initial one. Also, farmers should be free to sell any quantity of paddy produce in November-December and of wheat in April-May, the main procurement seasons. Rather, there should not be any bar on the quantity of paddy and wheat that a farmer offers for sale in any step of procurement.
BS Dhillon is Vice Chancellor and RS Sidhu, Registrar, PAU, Ludhiana.
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