UP wheat procurement target up 1.2 MT

Amid bumper wheat production and procurement, the Uttar Pradesh government has hiked the procurement target to 3.2 million tonnes (MT) from 2 MT earlier.

It has been revised upwards, since the earlier target had already been achieved and the procurement season will still continue until June 30. This year, the wheat production is estimated to be over 27 MT. However, the Food Corporation of India (FCI), which has a separate target of procuring another 1 MT, has been sluggish as only 200,000 tonnes had been purchased so far through its 508 purchase centres.

Therefore, the FCI has been directed to purchase wheat, twice in a week, at the state mandi yards and also through special purchase centres.

UP is India’s largest wheat producer and provides 35 per cent to the country’s food basket. Chief Minister Mayawati had recently asked chief secretary Atul Kumar Gupta for reviewing the wheat purchase progress on a daily basis and update her about the same.

This year, the central government had hiked the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of wheat by Rs 80 to Rs 1,080 a quintal to remunerate farmers. The government has also set up 3,901 purchase centres of state food marketing department, Provincial Cooperative Federation, UP Agro, UP Sahkari Sangh, UP State Food Corporation and Nafed. This year, the wheat production is estimated at 27.6 MT against last year’s figure of about 25.5 MT.