Shimla: Keeping in view the convenience and interests of the farmers, the state government has decided to strengthen wheat procurement by opening wheat procurement centers in the state.

Acknowledges the problem of farmers of the border areas of the state who need go to sell their produce in neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana, the state Agriculture Minister Virender Kanwar announced to open wheat procurement center in the state itself for their convenience.

Except Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur districts, wheat crop is grown in all the districts in the state and about 672 thousand metric tonnes of wheat is estimated to be produced this year.

The state government has fixed the minimum support price of wheat at Rs. 1975 this year.

Virendra Kanwar said that with the help of agriculture department and marketing board, the procurement centers have been opened at Paonta Sahib and Kala Amb in Sirmaur district, Kangar (Haroli) and Takrala in Una district and Fatehpur in district Kangra. He directed to provide necessary facilities for opening wheat procurement center at Nalagarh in Solan district.

He informed that about 6701 quintal wheat has been procured in the state so far this year. 5570 wheat has been procured in Paonta Sahib and 367 in Kala Amb in Sirmaur district, 379.50 in Kangar and 132 in Takrala in Una district and 252.50 quintal in Fatehpur in district Kangra.

He directed the department to make timely arrangements for wheat procurement and also to provide basic facilities at the procurement centers so that the farmers visiting the center do not face any kind of inconvenience.