Virendra Singh Rawat / Lucknow
In the current rabi marketing season 2023-24, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh government is targetting to procure 6 million tonnes (MT) of wheat.
The minimum support price (MSP) of wheat has been fixed at Rs 2,125 per quintal (100 kg).
Since Lok Sabha elections 2024 are just a year away, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) intends to keep the farmers in good humour.
Meanwhile, UP and the Food Corporation of India (FCI) will set up nearly 6,000 procurement centres across the state.
Last year, UP wheat procurement could not meet its target of 6 MT since the open market prices were higher than the MSP due to the robust international wheat index following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war.
As Russia and Ukraine are among the top global wheat exporters, the conflict badly hit their wheat supplies, thereby stoking global wheat prices owing to the scarcity of the commodity.
The domestic wheat prices had risen due to the higher demand in the export market. This had promoted India to restrict shipments to cool domestic prices for preserving food security.
However, the global wheat supply chains are fairly stabilised this year although the open market prices are still competitive.
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Earlier, the UP government had announced to give priority to small and marginal farmers in the wheat procurement season, which is effective from April 1 to June 15, 2023.