With the record procurement of 84 lakh metric tonnes of wheat during the current procurement season, the Madhya Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party government has taken a big leap forward and replaced the open market system dominated by traders, with the state acting as the biggest agency purchasing wheat from the farmers.
This is the latest picture that emerged at Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s press conference at mantralaya here on Friday. Mr Chouhan said against the average 2 per cent agriculture growth at the all-India level, Madhya Pradesh has registered more than 9 per cent growth during the corresponding period and this year it is going to be in double digits.
Similarly, he pointed out that Madhya Pradesh registered 10.20 per cent economic growth during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan whereas at the national level the rate of economic growth was going down.
Throwing light on advances made in the agriculture sector in the state, Mr Chouhan said the total agriculture production during the kharif season this year was 113.93 lakh metric tonnes against 112.44 lakh metric tonnes the previous year. This year’s rabi crop output is 101.79 lakh metric tonnes against 95.81 lakh metric tonnes in 2010-11. This has been possible due to concerted inputs by the farmers and also state initiative such has focused efforts aimed at improving the power supply situation and increasing the total irrigated area, the chief minister pointed out.
Due to the bumper wheat crop, procurement had become a big challenge this season, Mr Chouhan said adding Madhya Pradesh is the only state in the country which is directly buying wheat from the farmers. He cited the example of Punjab and said commission agents are involved in wheat procurement in that state. The chief minister said that till Friday, 84 lakh metric tonnes of wheat had been procured from 10.08 lakh farmers in the state.
Of the `11,634 crore to be paid to them, `11,000 crore has already been credited to their respective bank accounts and the remaining amount would also be paid in the next two or three days.
Mr. Chouhan said that the main Opposition Congress had been protesting and criticizing the government by wrongly accusing it of poor management of wheat procurement. A bottleneck had been created due to short supply of gunny bags by the Centre but the hurdle was crossed by creating an alternate storage mechanism, he added.
Mr. Chouhan refused to comment when asked about media reports analyzing senior BJP leader L.K. Advani’s views on his party in his blog. To another query, he said people in Madhya Pradesh are happy with the BJP Government.