Prayagraj: The Sangam city has set a record in wheat procurement and reached 136% of the target. Around 77,900 metric tonnes of wheat was procured in the Prayagraj district against a target of 57,000 metric tonnes benefitting as many as 14,237 farmers.Moreover, the wheat procurement in the Prayagraj division also reached 101 percent of the target and Prayagraj securing the top spot in the division. Officials said that the district administration was in ‘action mode’ to ensure farmers receive the best fair price for their crops as mandated by the state government. Divisional Food Marketing Controller (Prayagraj), Raju Patel said that the state government had set a target to procure 1,35,000 metric tonnes of wheat in the division this season. To facilitate this, 329 procurement centers were set up across the four districts of the Prayagraj division. However, a total of 1,76,866 metric tonnes of wheat was procured, showing 101.94% of the target—a record achievement.A total of 34,505 farmers in the Prayagraj division were benefited from this initiative, with payments amounting to Rs 45,425.93 lakh made to 34,183 of them. Patel, meanwhile, said that the district had set a target to procure 57,000 metric tonnes of wheat. To achieve this, 146 wheat procurement centers were set up, and mobile procurement vans were also deployed. By the end of the season, a total of 77,990.88 metric tonnes of wheat had been procured. This represents 136.83% of the procurement target. In the same season last year, 15,483.71 metric tonnes of wheat were procured in the district with 50,762 metric tonnes have been procured this year compared to the previous season.Besides, Pratapgarh has also performed well in wheat procurement and ranked second with 29,161 metric tonnes of wheat procurement against a target of 23,500 metric tonnes, which was 124% of the target. In Fatehpur district, around 37,420 metric tonnes were procured against a target of 38,500 metric tonnes. Kaushambi district had a target of 54,500 metric tonnes, but only 32,293 metric tonnes were procured.Officials said that the state government have introduced several changes to the wheat procurement policy to provide convenience to farmers and reduce their transportation costs, which yielded positive results. Moreover, to boost wheat procurement, the government had also arranged for mobile procurement centres alongside standard procurement centres, just as it did last year.Patel, meanwhile, said that following government directives, wheat was also procured directly from farmers’ homes this time. Thirty-five mobile vans remained active round-the-clock in the division, visiting farmers’ homes to procure wheat.Pointedly, the central government has also fixed the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for wheat at Rs 2,585 per quintal for the Rabi marketing year 2026-27, which is Rs 160 higher than the previous year. The Food and Civil Supplies department has set up a system to make wheat payments directly into farmers’ Aadhaar-linked bank accounts within 48 hours via the Public Financial Management System (PFMS). Additionally, farmers have been granted an exemption from the production verification requirement for selling wheat quantities exceeding 100 quintals, providing them with further convenience.=====eom
