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Wheat procurement poor, deadline extended till June 15
PATNA Dissatisfied over the tardy pace of wheat procurement, chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday directed the cooperative department to extend the deadline for procurement by 15 more days so that the benefits of minimum support price (MSP) reached the maximum number of farmers in the state
PATNA
Dissatisfied over the tardy pace of wheat procurement, chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday directed the cooperative department to extend the deadline for procurement by 15 more days so that the benefits of minimum support price (MSP) reached the maximum number of farmers in the state.
Earlier, May 31 was fixed as the deadline for wheat procurement.
However, the primary agriculture cooperative societies and Vyapar Mandals, the agencies authorised to purchase wheat from farmers on the MSP, could meet barely 13% of the procurement target of 7 lakh metric tonnes. “As on Tuesday, the agencies have procured nearly 91,000 MTs of wheat. We hope to procure nearly 2 lakh MTs in the next couple of weeks,” cooperative department secretary Bandana Preyashi said after the CM’s review on wheat procurement.
The food and consumer protection department (FCPD), in consultation with agriculture and cooperative departments, had upgraded the wheat procurement target from 1 lakh MT to 7 lakh MT in view of huge registrations by farmers and frequent reports about distress selling by them.
“However, abysmally slow pace of procurement highlights gap between words and action of the government. Farmers are being compelled to sell wheat at throwaway prices,” said Raj Kumar Sharma, head of the farmers’ wing of Bihar Congress.
Officials said the CM had to intervene after he was informed that only 15,000 out of total registered 1.70 crore farmers could avail of the benefits of MSP so far. “The state produced around 65 lakh MTs of wheat this season against 60 lakh MT last year,” said agriculture secretary N Saravana Kumar.
Preyashi, however, defended the progress in procurement, saying it was being done in difficult times when the state has been devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic. “Last year, only 4,000 MTs of wheat could be procured,” she said.
Vijay Kumar Mishra, a marginal farmer of Bikramganj in Rohtas, said farmers were disappointed as primary agriculture credit societies (PACS) were not purchasing wheat, citing cash crisis. “In the absence of official procurement, farmers are being forced to sell wheat to local middlemen at ₹1,200-1,500 per quintal, much lower than the MSP, which is over ₹1,700,” said Mishra.
A senior officer FCPD said the maximum procurement was recorded in Kaimur, where farmers sold around 7,113 MTs of wheat to Pacs, followed by Rohtas (6,644 MT) and Begusarai (6,535 MT)). Arwal and Sheikhpura are the worst performing districts, recording procurement of 334 MT and 337 MT.
