Exclusive: Pawar on heat over wheat

New Delhi: Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has dismissed reports of Government bungling wheat procurement as "nonsense".

Speaking to CNN-IBN's Karan Thapar on Devil's Advocate, Pawar says the Government had deliberately decided to encourage direct procurement by the private sector because that would benefit farmers and this explained the Government's own low procurement figure.

Sharad Pawar: It is true that this year wheat production is more than last year, and this year wheat procurement is lowest in last number of years

Karan Thapar: Why?

Sharad Pawar: Reason? One major decision that we have taken is to request all state governments to amend the Agricultural Produce Marketing Act. As per the APMA the farmer was supposed to sell his produce only in mandis and traders were not allowed to buy from farmers other than in mandis. This time we have removed this condition and for the first time traders got the opportunity to purchase farmers' produce.

Watch the entire interview with the Sharad Pawar on Devil’s Advocate at 2030 hrs (IST) on Sunday only on CNN-IBN.