As most states have completed purchase of wheat from farmers, the largest producer of the staple — Uttar Pradesh — has been pegged back on this score due to the two-month-long lockdown.
Between April 15 and May 24, the state could procure 20.39 lakh metric tonnes of wheat, a meagre 5.6 per cent of the total production of 363 lakh MT in the state. The procurement was delayed due to lockdown and began on April 15.
“The procurement lag is due to initial shortage of jute sacks, but it has picked up since plastic bags were allowed. Over 20 lakh MT wheat has been purchased from four lakh farmers,” Food department official said.
The procurement is being done through 5,947 procurement centres across the state. A total of 6, 39,314 farmers have registered to sell wheat at minimum support price.
On the other hand, the farmers’ organisation said that due to slow procurement, they were forced to sell wheat below MSP in mandis and to wholesale wheat traders. The MSP for wheat is fixed at Rs 1,925 per quintal, up from Rs 1,840 last year.
A farmer of Barabanki alleged that officials were ignoring the purchase in the name of quality which forced most farmers to sell wheat to a trader at a rate of Rs 1,850 per quintal. To save labour and multiple transportation costs, farmers are selling wheat in mandis at Rs 1,800-1,850 per quintal.
Another reason for slow procurement is failure of farmers to get registered with the portal for selling wheat at procurement centres. A farmer said that even if one got registered and got a token, the queues were very long at purchase centres.
