Along with experiencing a bumper wheat crop this season, farmers in Uttar Pradesh are also forced to sell their produce for as low as Rs 910 per quintal — Rs 170 less than the Minimum Support Price of Rs 1,080 fixed by the Government.

In Bareilly and Shahjahanpur districts, the rates have fallen as low as Rs 910 and Rs 920 per quintal. Badaun is better off at a rate of Rs 960 and in districts like Bulandshahr, Meerut and Aligarh wheat is being sold at Rs 970 per quintal, claimed UP Roller Flour Millers’ Association president Pradeep Singhal.

“This is due to the lack of government support, combined with a lack of awareness among farmers,” explained association secretary V V S Chauhan, adding that the mandis in UP are not regulated like in Punjab and Haryana. In fact, traders come to UP to buy wheat directly from the farmers instead of paying the huge taxes at the mandis in Haryana and Punjab, he added.

Unlike Punjab, the UP farmers have small land holdings and prefer to sell their produce directly to traders in local mandis, even if this means lesser rates, than going through the rigmarole of taking their produce to government procurement centres. This way they save on transportation costs, explains Chauhan. He said this also benefits the traders as it is easier to transport wheat from UP to the Northeastern states and the Southern states.

However, officials claim the UP Government has set up procurement centres in almost all districts and farmers are encouraged to sell their produce there to avail the best prices. “So far 4.25 lakh farmers have sold their produce at the procurement centres,” said UP State Food Commissioner Kishan Singh Atoria.

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