In the Rabi marketing season 2021-2022, the Uttar Pradesh government has made the highest-ever purchase of wheat from the highest number of farmers. Wheat procurement in UP has increased eight times in Yogi Adityanath’s regime, going up from 7.97 lakh MT in 2016 to 56.25 lakh MT, an all-time high, in the ongoing season.
The sharp hike in procurement has benefited 13 times more farmers than the previous Samajwadi Party government in 2016. During the Rabi marketing season 2016-17, wheat was purchased from merely 1,66,073 farmers whereas in the 2021-22 season, over 12.88 lakh farmers benefited from the purchase despite the pandemic situation.
The Yogi Adityanath government has purchased more than 2.22 crore MT of food grains on higher MSP so far in its tenure which is 110 per cent more than the target. In comparison, during the erstwhile Akhilesh Yadav government, the total purchase of wheat from 2012 to 2017 was just about 94.38 lakh MT, only 42 per cent of the target.
In the five years preceding 2017, the Samajwadi Party was in power in Uttar Pradesh and the total number of farmers who benefited from the wheat purchase was 19,02,098. In contrast, during 2017-21, the Yogi-led government in UP benefited more than 46,33,526 farmers.
According to Commissioner of Food and Supply Manish Chauhan, there are several reasons behind the record wheat purchase this year. The increased number of purchase centres, the high MSP, no fixed time limit and transparency in procurement adopted by the government are the factors that contributed to the all-time high purchase.
The Central government 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.