The Centre and state government agencies procured less than 1% of the total wheat produced in Bihar of the Rabi season of 2020-2021. According to a report by The Wire, the government procured only 5,000 tones, from 1,002 farmers, while the target was to procure 7 lakh tonnes of wheat.
Wheat procurement in Bihar has been dismal for the past few years. Farmers have been forced to sell their produce at rates as low as half of the Minimum Support Prices. Procurement centres in Bihar have also dropped to 1,619 in 2019-2020 from around 9,000 in 2016. With the coronavirus pandemic, the situation for farmers who could not sell their wheat produce to private mills or manufacturers worsened.
India’s largest wheat producer Uttar Pradesh also struggled during this period, and government agencies procured only 10% of the total wheat produce in UP. Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab accounted for 87% of the total wheat procurement in the country.