May
I Continual from fan 54)
urban consumers In deficit
Statea (particularly
Maharaahtra, Gujarat, and
West Bengal) for wheat over
aorghum, plua the smaller
cash loft incurred by the
Government for distribution
of wheat. Moreover, the
delivered Bombay price for
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Wifmer
DUTCHMAN FEED
MILLS, INC.
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CHARLESE SAUDER
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R D 1 East Earl
Food Sales to India
Top $ 1 Billion in 75
imported coarse grains is
now 80 percent of that for
wheat, compared with about
60 percent in more normal
years.
Precipitating the jump in
grain imports has been
growing difficulty in
procuring and distributing
domestic grain - a problem
PARADISE SUPPLY
Paradise
POWL’S FEED SERVICE
R D 2 Peach Bottom
HAROLD H. GOOD
Terre Hill
WHITE OAK MILL
R D 5 Manheim
HERSHEYBROS.
Remholds
STEVENS FEED MILL
INC.
Stevens Pa
India seemingly had over
come a few years ago
following break-through in
grain production brought by
the Green Revolution.
Those breakthroughs
pushed Indian food grain
production to a record 108.4
million tons in 1970-71 from
the low 72.3 million of the
1965-66 drought year. Most of
the wheat is harvested from
late March to early May,
providing supplies for
distribution during July-
June, the agricultural year
in India. India in the early
1970’s thus found itself
virtually self-sufficient in
grain, with trains from
northern India replacing
ships from North America as
the main carriers of wheat to
deficit areas. (During 1971-
73, the Punjab and Haryana
sent over 3 million tons of
wheat to other areas of India
each year.)
But stocks started to be
undermined as malevolent
weather hit again in 1972 and
1974, reducing slightly yields
of high-yielding varieties of
wheat and rice, stars of the
Green Revolution, and
bringing sharp reductions in
traditional varieties in rain
fed areas.
When the poor weather
first struck in the summer of
1972, lowering 1972-73
foodgrain output to 97 million
tons, the Government was
able to draw on nearly 9
million tons of foodgrain
stocks to meet the
emergency. The next year
India had a better foodgrain
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IE’MAR FARM
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crop of 103.6 million tons,
despite a 2.6-miliion-ton drop
in wheat output.
At that point, however, the
real difficulties began. The
country entered the 1974-75
season with stocks drawn
down sharply, hoping that
good monsoon weather
would boost 1974-75 output to
record levels and thus allow
replenishment of the
depleted stocks. But rains
were inadequate, causing
sharp declines in both rice
and coarse grain output.
Current estimates place the
rice crop some 4.2 million
tons under the 1973-74 record
of 43.7 million tons (milled
basis), while coarse gains
(including 1975 barley) are
also estimated about 4
million tons below last year’s
harvest of 28 million. And,
the new wheat crop, to be
harvested during March-
May, is now projected to be
only slightly better than last
year’s 22.1-million-ton
harvest.
These difficulties have
reflected back into the grain
procurement and
distribution system. Vir
tually all of the 2.6 million
ton decline in 1973-74 wheat -
production showed up in
reduced Government
procurement of wheat
during 1974 - less than 2
million tons, compared with
almost 4.5 million in 1973. As
a result, fair price shops in
deficit States like
Maharashtra and Gujarat
received only about half
their expected wheat from
domestic supplies, and rapid
inflation by then had over
taken all of India.
The inflation - marked by a
35-percent jump in food
prices during 1974 -
exacerbated problems in the
wheat market, as farmers
sold to private traders
whenever possible rather
than for the fixed price of
fered by the Government.
In addition, during 1973
and 1974 some farmers in the
Punjab and other surplus
producing States apparently
fed wheat in their expanding
dairy and poultry operations
as a result of lower prices for
it than for com and sorghum.
These price differences
arose because private
traders may transport
coarse grains across food
zone lines while they are not
permitted to do this with
wheat (except for Uttar
Pradesh, with two zones,
each State comprises one
food zone). Hence, some of
the Punjabi farmers shipped
their com and sorghum to
defict States at higher prices
($l6O to $2OO per ton),
retaining their wheat for
feed.
The Gove.nment
responded to the market
HOOKED AGAIN?
Remember all those get RICH GIMMICKS you and your neighbors
were fast talked into several years ago? They cost innocent
LANCASTER COUNTIANS SMILLIONSS of hard earned DOLLARS.
NOW ANOTHER PLOT?
This time the trick is to SCARE you into buying a costly plan that
will pay your TAXES after you die.
CERTAINLY, (For the promoter). The commissions are much
higher than they were on the gimmicks they offered the other
time around.
Fortunately there are SENSIBLE ways to satisfy your TAX claims
without OBLIGATING yourself the rest of your GOOD LIFE.
Before you get HOOKED AGAIN,
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 29,1975
distortions by upping its
procurement price for wheat
to $l4O per ton in March 1974
from around $lOO in 1973. But
by then deliveries to
procurement centers had
fallen to token levels.
The Government also
attacked the problem • by
permitting flour millers to
pay farmers $lBB per ton for
wheat if they would deliver
half their purchases to
procurement centers for $l4O
per ton. While suffering a
loss of about $5O per ton for
half the wheat thus pur
chased, millers made up for
their losses through profits
from wheat products sold in
the cities. And they, of
course, found this a better
deal than having no wheat at
all - a situation many had
found themselves in during
early 1974 as domestic
supplies dropped and im
ports were not yet arriving in
volume. Partly because of
such measures, represen
tatives of the flour mills
purchased over 2 million
tons of wheat in the Punjab
and Haryana in 1974 for
shipment to deficit States.
GOOD IDEA?
Call Robert Hosslen 717-665-3713
PS If you are already HOOKED,
Maybe I can help you get UNHOOKED
This expanded role of the
flour mills mirrors India’s
rising commercial output of
flour - it tripled between 1967
and 1973 to surpass 3 million
tons. That growth, in turn,
has been fueled by changing
consumption habits among
wealthier urban consumers,
who increasingly buy
finished bakery products
rather than wait in line for
wheat at fair price shops.
This year, wheat
procurement should be
helped some by the
Government’s recent price
measures, including a boost
in procurement prices in the
Punjab to over $155 per ton in
1975. However, rice may
present a problem because
of the sharp shortfall in 1974-
75 output, and purchases of
other crops will likewise
suffer from reduced out
turns.
In addition to grains, India
is importing larger amounts
of .U.S. fats and oils -
especially tallow. Cash sales
of U.S. tallow to India tripled
between calendar 1973 and
1974 to 49,000 tons, valued at
[Continued on Pace 58]
55