UP govt to purchase wheat directly from farmers under MSP

Lucknow,  Uttar Pradesh government will purchase wheat directly from farmers from April 1 to June 15 under the Minimum Support Price Scheme. The wheat purchase will start from April 1 on the fixed minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 1,975 per quintal this year, Uttar Pradesh Food Commissioner Manish Chauhan said in an official statement. For selling wheat, it will be mandatory for farmers to register on the website of the Department of Food, which has been started. Farmers can register themselves on their own or through cyber cafes and public convenience centres, he said. He said a total of 6,000 purchasing centres are proposed this year, including those of the Food Department and other purchasing agencies, where wheat will be procured from farmers. The purchasing centres will operated from 9 am to 6 pm. For the convenience of farmers, online token system has been arranged this year under which farmers will be able to get tokens for the sale of wheat at the purchasing centre as per their convenience, he said, adding that the geo tagging of the purchase centres is being done by the remote sensing application center to help farmers get the location and address of the centres easily. For ensuring transparent procurement, wheat procurement will be done through ”Electronic Point of Purchase” and the facility of nominee has also been arranged for the convenience of the farmers. If a farmer is unable to come to the purchasing centre himself, he can nominate a member of his family. The nominated member will have to be mentioned in the registration form. Aadhaar authentication of the nominated member will also be done, he added. PTI