Pawar had earlier floated international tenders for 3.5 mt of wheat and issued contracts to the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) and over 1mt had already arrived. Initial shipments were of extremely low quality, lower than India's already low levels that the Government even talked about canceling the contract. But later, it doctored reports on quality levels of those arrived and allowed AWB to send in the rest of the shipment. Later it also capitulated to demands by international companies and lowered quality specifications to receive more quotations. Additionally, it also allowed the import of wheat by private players at 5% import duty. The opposition criticizes the Government  for sleeping on the switch and trying to import wheat in an agrarian nation.

Wheat production fell off target in India because of drought and unusual warming that affected production  in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Gujarat, Bihar,Delhi, Jharkhand, and Rajasthan. Although 26.5 million hectares (mha) was used to grow wheat compared to 26.3 mha, there was an estimated shortfall of 2mt in February triggering a price rise. Apparently, the Ministry realized the shortfall only in January but that estimate was too small. Increasing number of farmers are opting to grow cash generating sugarcane even in water scarce areas and not cereals. They abuse populist measures such as free electricity or allowing commercial fishing in natural water bodies by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S.R. Reddy to pump out millenniums old underground water to grow one or two crops of sugarcane and causing an ecological disasters.