Farmers will not face any hardship in selling wheat, says UP govt

The Uttar Pradesh government on Monday said it has made preparations for the purchase of wheat and taking steps to ensure that farmers do not face any hardship amid the nationwide lockdown.

The state government looks to buy 55 lakh metric tonnes of wheat at a rate of Rs 1,925 per quintal (100 kg) at 5,500 purchase centres, a release issued by the state government stated.

The release also mentioned that an online token system has been introduced to ensure that there is no crowding at market yards, Principal Secretary Agriculture, Agriculture Marketing and Agriculture Foreign Business, Devesh Chaturvedi said.

"Harvesting of wheat is taking place in the state. The government has made all preparations for wheat harvesting. Farmers do not need to worry as far as the purchase of wheat is concerned," UP Agriculture minister Surya Pratap Shahi said.

"Online tokens have been introduced to ensure that there is no crowding in the mandis in the state. Farmers willing to sell wheat have to contact the purchase centre in-charge and give their farmer registration number. The centre in-charge will then generate an online token in a week's time, and the same will be sent to the farmer through SMS," Chaturvedi said.

Chaturvedi also said that if farmers who are not registered arrive at the purchase centre along with the Aadhaar card, they can be registered by the centre in-charge on producing photo I-card, bank passbook and khatauni (land) papers.

Instructions have been issued to all the centre in-charges to ensure that social distancing is strictly adhered to at the purchase centres along with use of masks. Along with this, arrangement of sanitisers, soaps and water should also be made at the purchase centres.

Farmers too have been directed to cover their faces by masks or gamchaa while they come to the purchase centres, Chaturvedi said in the statement.