UP likely to call off wheat procurement

Lucknow, May 23 : The Uttar Pradesh government is likely to call off wheat procurement operation, in view of the little response from the farmers due to meagre Minimum Support Price (MSP) compared to open market rate.

Against the target of 25 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT) for the current Rabi season, the procurement so far stands at only 38,854 MT.

On the other hand, private companies -- who had been given license by UP to purchase directly from farmers -- managed to procure close to 10 LMT.

State Food commissioner Anoop Pandey said there was a declining trend in procurement of wheat by the six government agencies and the FCI. ''Final decision on closing of the procurement operation is pending with the government.'' UP had set up as many as 4,670 procurement centres across the state for purchasing wheat from farmers at MSP of Rs 650 per quintal and a bonus of Rs 50 per quintal.

At several places, the DMs even offered allurement of arms license for DBBL gun and revolvers to farmers selling wheat to government agencies, but it too failed to attract them.

The bonus of Rs 50 per quintal alongwith the MSP of Rs 650 per quintal failed to make any impact as market price ruled at Rs 800-900 per quintal. Moreover, the implementation of government orders for the bonus was delayed and enforced only at the end of first week of May.

Although wheat procurement operation had begun before schedule in March last, so far the total purchase by UP and central agency FCI is paltry at 38,854 MT against the target of 25 Lakh MT. This figure includes 3,855 MT purchased by the FCI for the central pool.

In last Rabi season 2004-05, the procurement was 4.68 Lakh MT against the target of 25 Lakh MT. As per UP agriculture department estimates, against the target of 30 Million MT, the production of the wheat was close to 24 millions MT during the current 2005-06 Rabi season.

Contrary to the dismal record of official procurement agencies, private companies including Australian Wheat Board, ITC, Cargill, managed to purchase close to 10 Lakh MT from farmers.

Interestingly, all private companies had hired godowns owned by government agencies including UP Warehousing Corporation and Pradesh Cooperative Federation.

UNI