The Uttar Pradesh government has procured 5.24 lakh tonne of wheat in the initially 22 days of the ongoing rabi advertising year, which started on April 1. This is about 4 occasions the procurement completed in the year-ago period.
According to state government officials, in the 2020-21 season, 1.25 lakh tonne of wheat was bought till April 22. “Despite the raging Covid pandemic this year, the state has been able to procure record wheat from as many as 99,935 farmers from various districts, against 39,500 farmers in the last season. As per the MSP of Rs 1,925/quintal, 5.24 lakh tonne of wheat were purchased so far by state government agencies, an amount of Rs 1,035 crore has been transferred directly to the accounts of the farmers,” mentioned Manish Chauhan, commissioner, UP meals and civil supplies.
According to officials, farmers are becoming created to comply with the COVID protocol such as use of sanitisers and masks, and strict social distancing norms are also becoming followed. The quantity of acquire centers has been enhanced from 5,000 last year to 6,000 this time to stay away from overcrowding.
To guarantee that farmers do not face any dilemma, the government has nominated seven getting agencies – Department of Food and Supplies, PCF, UPSS, UPPCU, SFC, Mandi Parishad and Food Corporation of India.
So far, the meals division has procured 130,531.95 tonne, PCF 211,494.40 tonne, UPSS 44,475.20 tonne, UPPCU 61,008.88 tonne, SFC 13,357.10 tonne, Mandi Parishad 13,720.96 tonne and Food Corporation of India has bought 17,883.55 tonne.
For the advantage of farmers, the government has began geo-tagging of all storage godowns and getting centers by way of remote sensing application centre.
“Further, the state government has allowed 150 farmers producer organisations (FPO) in the wheat procurement process this year,” a senior government official mentioned, adding that the thought behind the FPO is to bring farmers, producer groups, traders and the agriculture and allied departments of the state government on one platform.