Lucknow, Jun 22 (UNI) In the Rabi marketing season 2021-2022, the Uttar Pradesh Government made the highest ever purchase of wheat from the largest number of farmers, in the history of State.
Wheat procurement in UP has increased eight times in Yogi Adityanath’s regime, going up from 7.97 lakh MT in 2016 to 56.25 lakh MT, an all time high record, in the ongoing season.
The BJP-led UP government benefitted 13 times more farmers than the previous Samajwadi Party government in 2016 testifying the fact that farmers’ welfare has been the topmost priority of the current government.
During the 2016-17 rabi marketing season wheat was purchased from merely 1,66,073 farmers whereas in the 2021-22 season, around 12,88,461 farmers benefited from the purchase, despite the pandemic situation.
The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh is working on transforming the lives of farmers to make them self-reliant and prosperous. The Uttar Pradesh Government is sensitive to even the smallest needs of the farmers and made the whole administrative machinery farmer-friendly.
The Government of UP under the leadership of Yogi Adityanath has purchased more than 222 lakh MT on higher MSP so far in its tenure which is 110 percent more than the target. In comparison, during the Akhilesh government, the total purchase of wheat from 2012 to 2017 was just about 94.38 lakh MT, only 42 percent of the target.
The current UP government paid more than triple to farmers for wheat as compared to the SP government.
While the SP government paid Rs 12808 crore as MSP for wheat between 2012-2016, the Yogi government paid over Rs 40,099.83 crore between 2017-2021.
In the five years preceding 2017, the Samajwadi Party was in power in Uttar Pradesh. During which, total farmers benefited from the wheat purchase were 19,02,098. In contrast, during 2017-21, the Yogi led government in UP benefitted more than 46,33,526 farmers.
According to Commissioner Food and Supply, Manish Chauhan,here saidvon Tuesday there are several reasons behind the record wheat purchase this year.The increased number of purchase centers, the high MSP, no fixed time limit and transparency in the procurement adopted by the government are the factors that contributed to the all-time high purchase.
The Central government increased the MSP of wheat from Rs 1,925 in 2020-21 to Rs 1,975 in 2021-22. Besides, the number of procurement centres has been increased from 5000 last year to 6,000 this time.
The Yogi government has also made a record of highest ever payment to the paddy farmers of the state in four years. The current government made a payment of 37825.66 crores to the farmers against their kharif crop, while the SP Government, paid only 17190.85 crores to the paddy farmers in their regime. The Uttar Pradesh Government purchased around 214.56 lakh metric tons of Kharif crop in the last 4 years whereas during the SP government, only 123.61 lakh MT of paddy was purchased.
The UP government benefited more than 31,88,529 farmers, in contrast, only 14,87,519 farmers benefited from the SP government.
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