Crop of hope: Wheat buying begins at 5,500 centres in Uttar Pradesh

TNN | Updated: Apr 16, 2020, 11:12 IST

Farmers working in their field to the threshing wheat crop during nationwide lockdown imposed in wake of coronavirus outbreak in Lucknow (ANI Photo)

Farmers working in their field to the threshing wheat crop during nationwide lockdown imposed in wake of coron...Read More

LUCKNOW: Purchase of wheat started across 5,500 purchase centres across the state on Wednesday. This year, the government has set a minimum supply price at Rs 1,925 per quintal and a target of 55 lakh tonnes of wheat purchase.
On Wednesday, around 6,000 tonnes of wheat was picked up at the wheat purchase centres through more than 615 farmers. Principal secretary, agriculture, Devesh Chaturvedi said that several concessions had been made for farmers to enable them to bring their produce to the purchase centres, while also allowing for buyers to purchase directly from the fields. "As against the lockdown rules, farmers have been given permission to travel and up to four people can travel in one vehicle," he said.
The government has made elaborate arrangements for wheat purchase. To prevent crowding at mandis, an online token system has been started. District food purchase official will issue tokens to registered farmers which are valid for seven days. Information regarding the purchase centre will be conveyed to the farmers via SMS on their registered mobile numbers.
Those farmers who have not registered till now can visit a purchase centre and provide copies of their Aadhaar card, photo ID card, passbook and details of land and register on the spot.
The government has also made arrangements for wheat to be picked up from fields directly. This includes flour mills. Officials said that changes in rules have been made to facilitate this.