Madhya Pradesh has emerged the top state in the country in wheat procurement on support price by purchasing over 1.27 crore tonnes from farmers, which accounts for 33 per cent of all wheat procured in the country, an official said on Monday.

He said wheat procurement in MP had increased by 74 per cent over the previous year when 73.69 lakh MT wheat was purchased on support price.

“Madhya Pradesh has reached the first position in the country in the procurement of wheat on support price. So far, 1, 27,67,628 metric tonnes of wheat has been procured. This accounts for 33 per cent of wheat procured by all states.

Punjab is second to MP,” a public relations department official said.

He said the total amount of wheat procured in the country stood at 3,86,54,000 metric tonnes.

“Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan gave top priority to the management of wheat procurement. In 75 consecutive meetings chaired by him on the issue from March 23, wheat procurement was reviewed daily,” he said.

“The MP government formulated an effective strategy for wheat procurement. Arrangements were made for gunny bags and storage while setting a target of 100 lakh MT more than the procurement made last year.

“The biggest challenge was to ensure more procurement in a short time from more farmers, for which the number of procurement centres was increased from 3,545 last year to 4,529 centres,” said the official.

He said social distancing norms were adhered to given the coronavirus outbreak, and SMSes were sent to manage the number of farmers at procurement centres.

“Money was transferred into farmer bank accounts in seven days on an average. So far, an amount of Rs 20,253 crore has been deposited in the accounts of 14,19,000 farmers,” he said.

Out of the total wheat procured, 118 lakh metric tonnes has been safely stored, which is almost 95 per cent of the quantity purchased, he said.

“This time, 81 per cent of farmers who were registered came to procurement centres to sell wheat, which is a record too,” the official added.