Madhya Pradesh Displaces Punjab To Become Top Wheat-Procuring State

BHOPAL (Madhya Pradesh): Madhya Pradesh on Monday became the largest wheat-procuring state for the central pool during the 2020-21 Rabi marketing season after surpassing Punjab. Food Corporation of India (FCI) data has revealed that as of June 6, MP has procured 125.59 LMT wheat — 98.62 per cent of the total arrival of 127.34 LMT wheat in the state.

MP has contributed 33 per cent of the 386.54 lakh MT wheat procured in the country, the highest in its history.

खुशी और गर्व का क्षण!

किसानों के श्रम का सुखद परिणाम!
प्रदेश में 127.70 लाख मीट्रिक टन गेहूं की खरीदी।

पंजाब को पीछे छोड़ते हुए देश में सबसे ज्यादा गेहूं खरीदी करने वाला राज्य मध्यप्रदेश बन गया।

अन्नदाता, संबंधित अधिकारियों, कर्मचारियों और प्रदेश को बधाई!

— Shivraj Singh Chouhan (@ChouhanShivraj) June 8, 2020

Wheat procurement in Madhya Pradesh increased by 74 per cent, compared to last year. Last year, a total of 73.69 lakh tonnes of wheat was procured in the state on support price.

Procurement in Punjab ended on May 31. Madhya Pradesh’s procurement was delayed by nearly three weeks. It was to begin the process on March 25 but could begin it only on April 15 after postponing it twice.

Soon after taking over as the chief minister of the state in March, Shivraj Singh Chouhan gave top priority to the management of wheat procurement. In 75 consecutive meetings conducted by the Chief Minister from March 23, wheat procurement was reviewed daily.

Arrangements were made for gunny bags and storage while setting a target of 100 lakh metric tonnes more than the procurement made last year. The government was aware that more procurement would have to be made from farmers compared to the previous year in a short time due to recession and disrupted movement. The government made arrangements for additional gunny bags and storage immediately.

Despite the lockdown, additional gunny bags were arranged for 25 Lakh metric tonnes. Due to planned management, there was no shortage of gunny bags even after such a huge purchase beyond the target. While working in lockdown, storage was arranged for additional 10 lakh metric tonnes.

The biggest challenge was to ensure more procurement in a short time from more farmers. For this, the number of procurement centres was increased from 3,545 last year to 4,529 centres.

While adhering to social distancing, the system of sending SMS to farmers was ensured so that only those who received the SMS reached the procurement centre.

For the first time, in view of the challenge of completing procurement at the appropriate time, the facility to determine the SMS number at each centre was given to the collectors.

At least 75 lakh SMSes were sent to farmers to ensure their awareness about Corona and other related information.

The amount of wheat procurement was directly transferred to the accounts of farmers by the state government in an average of 7 days.

So far, an amount of Rs 20,253 crore has been deposited in the accounts of 14,19,000 farmers.

To ensure timely payment to the farmers, adequate funds were arranged before the procurement period.

Out of the total wheat procured, 118 lakh metric tonnes safely which is almost 95 per cent of the quantity purchased have been transported and stored.

This time 81 per cent of the farmers who were registered came to the procurement centres to sell wheat, which is a record.

Last year the turnout of the farmers was 48.36 per cent, which has increased to 81 per cent this time. This is the highest turn out so far.

Last year, the percentage of small and marginal farmers who participated in the procurement was only 40 per cent, which has increased to 84 per cent this time.

MP administration has developed a storage capacity of 130 lakh metric tonnes, which is remaining for storage of wheat and its storage will also be ensured very soon. More than 10 thousand trucks have been used in the transportation of wheat.

The government has also made arrangements for gunny bags to purchase 135 lakh metric tonnes.

from League of India