LUCKNOW: After the Union cabinet increased the minimum support price (MSP) of wheat by Rs 40 in September 2021, the UP government has announced that it would procure it at the rate of Rs 2,015 per quintal from farmers in the state. In the previous rabi season, UP had paid Rs 1,975 for a quintal to farmers.
Having finalised the MSP for this rabi harvest season, the food and civil supplies department on Tuesday announced that 60 lakh metric tonnes of wheat would be purchased through 6,000 centres across UP.
Several new measures have been introduced this time to ensure the procurement process takes place in a transparent manner. The state government buys wheat from farmers between April 1 and June 15 every year.
While till last year farmers had to register themselves on the portal of the state’s food and civil supplies department, this time they will have to compulsorily register over a public financial management system which has been created by the Union finance ministry to track the transfer of subsidies to the beneficiaries.
The registration will happen only when the farmers provide details of the agricultural land which is sown in the rabi season, estimated yield or harvest along with their Aadhaar numbers.
In order to make the process of wheat buying and selling friendlier, for the first time a budget of Rs 10,000 for each centre has been provided. Officials of the department said that the amount would be provided over and above the other expenses and would be used to offer better facilities such as proper drinking water, fans, public announcement system among others at the centres.
In another amendment, the state government has strengthened the monitoring of the wheat purchase procedure. While till last year only senior administrative and food department officers participated and reviewed the wheat procurement process from now on, employees of food corporation of India, nodal officer of the purchase centers, agricultural produce markets committee member, commercial tax officer and legal metrology officer will also be asked to attend the meetings in the districts.
Officials added that the centers would remain open from 9 am to 6 pm on working days and Rs 50 lakh has been provided in advance to all the centers. Analysis kit has also been stationed across the 6,000 centres to check the quality of the wheat crop.
Satendra Singh from Para Bihari village in Baberu block of Banda district has been into wheat farming for decades. “The MSP needs to be increased as per the inflation rate hence we feel the increase this time is nominal,” said Singh.
