Different wheat procurement agencies claim to have procured 1846.07 metric tone (mt) more wheat in Udham Singh Nagar this season till May 25 as compared to the corresponding period last year when only 504.80 mt of wheat was collected till May 25, 2014.
A total 2350.87 metric tone (mt) of wheat from different parts of Udham Singh Nagar was collected till May 25, 2015, out of which the cooperative sector procured 2169.82 mt of wheat while the state food supply department collected 181.05 mt of wheat till May 25, 2015, said the officials concerned of the Udham Singh Nagar district administration.
Interestingly, only 636.90 metric tone (mt) of wheat had been collected in Udham Singh Nagar till April 22, 2015 since commencement of wheat procurement this season from April 1, against a target f procuring 1.35 lakh metric tone (mt) of wheat from Udham Singh Nagar this season.
The wheat is being purchased from the farmers at Rs 1450 per quintal this year, added the officials concerned of the Udham Singh Nagar district administration.
However, the farmers are also selling their wheat in the open market as usual in order to get better returns of their produce.
In the meanwhile, as many as 134 wheat procurement centres have been set up in different parts of Udham Singh Nagar this year, as the officials concerned said.
Out of these aforesaid 134 wheat procurement centres, the state food supply department and the cooperative department have set up respectively nine and 98 wheat procurement centres and as many as 27 wheat procurement centres have been set up by some other departments in different areas of this Terai district of Uttarakhand, as the officials concerned of the Udham Singh Nagar district administration said.
Mention worthy, Udham Singh Nagar, Nainital and Champawat districts are the major wheat producing districts in the Kumaon division.