UP govt ramps up wheat procurement centres to achieve 6 MT target
By Virendra Singh Rawat
Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government has increased the number of wheat procurement centres by 10 per cent to more than 6,400. The move is part of its efforts to achieve the procurement target of 6 million tonnes (MT) in the rabi marketing season of 2024-25.
Since the minimum support price (MSP) of wheat is Rs 2,275 per quintal (100 kg), the payout to the state’s farmers against the targeted purchase would be to the tune of Rs 13,650 crore.
Recently, UP’s Chief Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra reviewed the wheat procurement progress and directed officials to increase the registration of farmers on the state’s food and civil supplies portal.
He asked officials to tour villages and establish personal rapport with farmers to encourage them for procurement. Call centres by the food department have been activated for the purpose.
Nearly 285,000 farmers have already registered on the portal. To boost procurement, farmers selling up to 10 tonnes of grains have been exempt from verification.
Over the past few years, wheat procurement has been tepid in UP due to various reasons, including higher open market prices after a surge in international wheat prices following the Russia-Ukraine war.
UP, Rajasthan, and Bihar collectively contributed only 670,000 tonnes of wheat to the central pool during the 2023-24 marketing year.
This led the Centre to announce plans to hike wheat purchase from ‘non-traditional’ states of UP, Rajasthan and Bihar even as the union food ministry is targeting consolidated procurement of 31 MT of wheat from across the country.
Since October 2023, the Centre has been working with the three states to augment wheat purchase level to supplement food grains under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana and other welfare schemes.
Among the steps taken to improve wheat procurement included advancing the procurement window to March instead of April 1. The states are mandated to ensure the transfer of MSP to the beneficiary farmers’ bank accounts within 48 hours.
This article has been republished from The Business Standard.