Govt rules out ban on private traders in wheat market

THE government has denied imposing any restrictions on private traders for buying wheat from farmers, but said it will monitor the stock positions of these companies to check hoarding. “The government has not put restrictions on any company, including MNCs, to buy wheat from anywhere in the country. The farmers are free to sell wheat to whosoever they like,” food and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar told reporters here on Thursday. The minister dismissed suggestions that private companies were being restricted to enable staterun Food Corporation of India (FCI) meet its procurement target of 151 lakh tonnes for this year. Private traders should, however, need to furnish details about their stock position if they purchase more than 50,000 tonnes of wheat in a year, Mr Pawar said. “The nodal procurement agency, FCI, does not hide its stock position and a similar policy should be followed by the private traders,” he said, adding FCI had a system of disclosing its stock position on the website. According to industry officials, the government had urged upon the private traders not to enter the wheat market for a few weeks till its procurement gains momentum. “As agriculture minister, I want farmer to get better price. Simultaneously, there should be no hoarding and consumers should not be exploited,” the agriculture minister said.

Courtesy: EconomicTimes
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