The Janakpur regional office of the Food Management and Trading Company Limited has started procuring wheat from farmers. The procurement process, which began on Baisakh 11, is being carried out based on the government’s set support price.
According to office chief Nirmal Thapa, the government has fixed the support price of wheat at NPR 3,867.38 per quintal. Based on this price, the office aims to purchase 2,500 quintals of wheat from farmers in Dhanusha and Mahottari districts. Each farmer can sell up to 50 quintals, while cooperatives are allowed to sell up to 500 quintals of wheat.
For this purpose, a free weighing scale has been set up within the office premises in Mujeliya, Janakpur. The procurement process will only be carried out for wheat that is cleaned and meets the required quality standards, and it must be recommended by the respective local governments. Farmers will be paid via cheque.
Meanwhile, the office has reported that it could not meet its paddy procurement target for the current fiscal year. Although the target was to procure 32,000 quintals of paddy, only 5,346 quintals were purchased.
The main reason for falling short of the target was that market prices were higher than the government’s support price. While the government had set the paddy procurement price at NPR 3,580 per quintal, farmers were able to sell it in the private market for around NPR 4,000 per quintal.
The Janakpur office of the Food Management and Trading Company stated that it will continue to work towards improving convenience for farmers and building trust in the government procurement process.
