New Delhi: Wheat procurement in northwest India has started on a sluggish note, with unseasonal rains delaying harvest activity, three people aware of the development said. Key contributing states to the central food storage pool, including Punjab, Haryana, parts of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, recorded intermittent rains during the first week of April, disrupting harvest operations. Some early industry projections also see some crop damage due to these rains.
This month, several parts of northern India, including the key wheat-growing regions, received unseasonal rains and even some hailstorm, which was attributed to weather disturbances by experts.
have been forced to pause harvesting and the moisture content in the standing crop has increased, making it unsuitable for immediate procurement. The slowdown has led to lower-than-usual arrivals in the wholesale markets, affecting early procurement by government agencies.
According to Food Corporation of India (FCI) data, the government’s wheat purchase from farmers in the 2026-27 rabi marketing season (April–June) was 324,065 tonnes as of 8 April, compared to 398,030 tonnes a year ago. Haryana leads the procurement tally, with state agencies having purchased around 199,702 tonnes of wheat, Rajasthan has procured 78,611 tonnes, while Uttar Pradesh has bought 33,535 tonnes. Punjab purchased around 7,674 tonnes. Procurement is yet to start in Madhya Pradesh.
Government estimates peg India’s at a record 120.21 million tonnes (mt) this rabi marketing season, about 2.26 million tonnes more than last year’s 117.94 million tonnes.
Anticipating a bumper harvest, the government set a target to procure 30.33 million tonnes of wheat from farmers at the this season: Punjab (12.2 million), Haryana (7.2 million), Madhya Pradesh (7.8 million), Uttar Pradesh (1 million) and Rajasthan (2.1 million). Higher procurement will help government keep a lid on prices.
Farmers say harvesting activity is expected to gain pace over the next 7-10 days, as weather conditions improve and fields become accessible. “Farmers had temporarily halted harvesting due to increased moisture levels, but activity will resume soon once the weather conditions improve,” said Rattan Randhawa, a farmer from Deo village in Punjab’s Taran Tarn district.
Crop damage concern
Scientists say the recent spell of unseasonal rains across key wheat-growing regions has not had any significant impact on the standing crop. “Preliminary reports suggest that a few districts in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh may have been affected due to incidents of hailstorm. However, we do not see any significant impact on the overall crop production,” said Ratan Tiwari, director at ICAR-Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research, Karnal.
The industry said that despite localized concerns, the country’s wheat output is likely to remain robust this season, supported by favourable growing conditions earlier in the crop cycle.
“An independent survey conducted by us estimates that around 42.70 lakh hectares of wheat area has been affected across nine states and 152 districts including Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh out of a total 334.17 lakh hectares. Although the estimated quantitative loss is around 2 million tonnes, the estimated overall production seems to be still higher than last year with sufficient availability. We anticipate that wheat prices will remain stable without any sharp spike,” said Navneet Chitlangia, president of the Roller Flour Millers’ Federation of India.
The government is in the process of ascertaining any crop loss.
Meanwhile, Punjab’s agriculture minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian has written to the Centre to immediately send a team to assess widespread wheat crop damage caused by recent, unseasonal rain and hailstorm. Preliminary assessments show over 130,000 lakh acres affected.
Emailed queries to the department of food and public distribution, ministry of agriculture and the Food Corporation of India remained unanswered until press time.