Madhya Pradesh tops in wheat procurement in 2020-21; rural economy gets a whopping Rs 25,000 cr shot

“By developing a more competitive system, we have tried to provide farmers a maximum value for their produce”

“The reforms, have been made as per the new model Mandi Act of the Central government. These reforms will provide a wide array of options to the farmer to sell his produce and not depend on designated APMCS”

“We have also implemented e-trading system under which the rates at mandis all across the country will be accessible. Farmers can bargain and sell their produce in any market of the country where they get a higher price”

Madhya Pradesh has become the largest wheat procurer in the country in the financial year 2020-21, surpassing Punjab. MP has procured 13 million tonnes of wheat this year against 12.76 million tonnes procured by Punjab. In the process, the state will infuse a whopping Rs 25,000 crore liquidity into its rural economy by the time its all-time high wheat procurement exercise draws to a close.

The Madhya Pradesh government’s annual wheat procurement from farmers in 2020-21 (April-march) has surpassed last year’s total procurement, making it a leading wheat procurer in the country. The government which set a target of purchasing around 40.7 million tonnes of wheat from farmers this year has procured an additional 6 million tonnes, despite the lockdown restrictions in place. In 2019-20 crop year (July-june), the wheat harvesting at 107.18 million tonnes was at an all-time high. It was around 103.60 million tonnes during the corresponding period in the previous year.

Around 1 million farmers have been selling wheat to the state government, every year. This year the selling activity jumped by almost 60 per cent due to the absence of any buying activity from the private procurers.

The state government has already deposited around Rs 20,500 crore into the bank accounts of over 1.6 million farmers, out of which around 1 million farmers are small and marginal. The process of payment is ongoing for the remaining farmers. The number of small and marginal farmers from whom wheat was purchased this year was almost 73 per cent more than the last year.

The state had anticipated about the likely increase in the number of farmers who would come to sell their produce to the government, and raised the number of procurement centres in advance by almost 28 percent compared to the previous years. To avoid any delay in transportation, the government also converted around 30-40 godowns into procurement centres. Till last year, only 24 per cent of the godowns were being converted.

This humongous procurement exercise was carried out in more 2,000 godowns across the state. Normally, it takes around 15 days to bag and store wheat in godowns once the procurement process is over. However, the government maintained 85-90 per cent efficiency this year in transportation from the very first day of procurement. These activities related to procurement were properly mapped.

The state has used around 10,000 trucks to move the procured wheat to godowns.

The state normally receives around 3,000 tonnes of wheat daily at each procurement centre, but this time, barring a few centres, almost all of them procured close to 5,000 tonnes of wheat on a daily basis.

According to a state government data, the procurement from Madhya Pradesh was 11.33 million tonnes against the target of 10 million tonnes. This is in spite of the extra grain distribution under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyana Yojana and for the migrants.