Prayagraj: To ensure farmers get remunerative prices for their wheat and are not forced to depend on middlemen, state govt has begun procuring the crop directly from farmers’ doorsteps.Under the initiative, wheat is being lifted from villages through mobile procurement centres, saving farmers both transportation costs and delays, while payments are transferred directly to their bank accounts.Divisional food marketing controller (Prayagraj), Raju Patel, said a procurement target of 1,14,500 metric tonnes has been set for the Prayagraj division this season. Since the procurement drive began, 3,132 metric tonnes of wheat has been procured across the four districts of the division between April 1 and 8.Of this, 1,562 MT was procured from Prayagraj, 925 MT from Pratapgarh, 532 MT from Kaushambi and 113 MT from Fatehpur, Patel said.To meet the target, 281 procurement centres have been set up across the division. Instructions have been issued to in-charges of all centres to ensure procurement targets are achieved, with the process being closely monitored.Officials said govt has made several changes to its procurement policy this year to make the process easier for farmers and boost procurement, on the lines of last year’s model. Along with fixed procurement centres, mobile units have been deployed to reach farmers in remote areas.Patel said, for the first time, 35 mobile vans are operating round-the-clock across the division, collecting wheat by going door-to-door.The Centre has fixed the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for wheat at Rs 2,585 per quintal for the Rabi marketing season 2026–27, an increase of Rs 160 compared to last year.To ensure timely payments, the department has put in place a system under which the sale proceeds are transferred to farmers’ Aadhaar-linked bank accounts within 48 hours through the Public Financial Management System (PFMS). Farmers selling more than 100 quintals of wheat have also been exempted from production verification, easing the process further.
