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The Yogi Adityanath government is determined to safeguard the interests of farmers. This is manifested well as the state government has so far procured about 46 lakh metric tons of wheat from 10 lakh farmers on minimum support price.
It is much higher than the last season when the wheat was purchased from a total of 6.63 lakh farmers only. It is quite a feat considering that despite COVID-19 pandemic, the farmers are being provided all facilities to sell their produce in a smooth manner.
The chief minister has repeatedly said that each farmer is important to the government.
“The procurement process is not limited to mere fulfillment of the prescribed procurement target. Till a single farmer is there to sell his produce, we will buy every single grain of wheat,” he has said. Food and Supply Commissioner Manish Chauhan said that little over 10 lakh farmers had already benefited from the ongoing Rabi marketing season procurement operations.
“We have already made payments of Rs 7,240.30 crore directly into the bank accounts of farmers against the procurement of wheat,” the food commissioner said.
This is the first time that money is directly reaching the accounts of farmers within 72 hours of purchase in Uttar Pradesh.
To ensure that farmers do not face any problem in selling wheat, the government has nominated seven purchasing agencies, including the Food and Civil Supplies department, PCF, UPSS, UPPCU, SFC, Mandi Parishad and Food Corporation of India.
Amid the rising cases of coronavirus infection, arrangements of masks, physical distancing, hand hygiene, sanitisation, and others are taken care of at procurement centres. To prevent the farmers from getting infected with the coronavirus, Covid desks have been set up at every centre. In view of the warning of rain, the government is taking all kinds of precautions to save the wheat. The procurement of wheat commenced on April 1. The government has increased the MSP of wheat from Rs 1,925 in 2020-21 to Rs 1,975 in 2021-22. Besides, the number of procurement centres has been increased from 5,000 last year to 6,000 this time. To eliminate the middlemen, for the first time in the country, the state government has introduced the electronic point of purchase (e-PoP) machines ensuring transparency in the purchase of wheat. At the same time, online tokens have been arranged by the government for the convenience of farmers to prevent the spread of COVID-19.