Lucknow, May 12:Despite the second wave of Covid-19, the procurement of wheat has progressed well in Uttar Pradesh in the ongoing 2021-22 rabi marketing season.

So far, around 22.83 Lakh Metric Tonne (LMT) of wheat have been procured from around 4.50 lakh farmers at 5617 centres in the state. This is about double the procurement is done in the year-ago.Last year, around 12.75 LMT of wheat was purchased from the farmers in the same period (till May 11, 2020).

This year, daily wheat purchase crossed 1.38 LMT on May 11. Following the central government’s direction, payment is being directly transferred to the farmer’s bank account within 72 hours.

It is worth noting that even during the peak pandemic, CM Yogi gave instructions to the officials that no loss should be done to any farmer in the state this year. Procurement had suffered last year because of the Covid-induced lockdown.
Manish Chauhan, Commissioner, Food and Civil Supplies Department said here on Wednesday that so far total purchase worth Rs 4510.12 crore has been made from the farmers.

“At the minimum support price (MSP) of 1,975 per quintal, the 2283643.67 MT (Metric Tonne) of wheat bought by the state government agencies so far is worth about Rs 4510.12 crore. Till now, payment of Rs 3090.07 crore has been made to farmers” said Manish Chauhan.

The payment of was directly credited to the farmers’ bank accounts in a smooth and hassle-free manner on the instructions of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
“Until now, 4,48,789 farmers from various districts of the state have benefitted”, he said. Amid the rising cases of coronavirus, the arrangements regarding masking, physical distancing, hand hygiene, sanitization, and others are taken care of.
A huge quantity of wheat is being purchased and the procurement process is running smoothly. To ensure that farmers do not face any problem, the government has nominated seven purchasing agencies, including the Department of Food and Supplies, PCF, UPSS, UPPCU, SFC, Mandi Parishad and Food Corporation of India.

So far the Food Department has procured 555776.2915 MT, PCF 1054059.327 MT, UPSS 204376.7437 MT, UPPCU 298458.5907 MT, SFC 55610.638 MT, Mandi Parishad 54125.728 MT and Food Corporation of India has purchased 61236.35 MT of the total wheat.(UNI)