NEW DELHI, 21 April 2020: Reaching out to farmers amidst COVID19 crisis, central government agency, Food Corporation of India (FCI) and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) have started procuring pulses, oilseeds directly from the farmers at the minimum support price (MSP).
So far as on 16 April 2020, the agencies have procured,33,987.65 metric tonnes of pulses & 29,264.17 metric tonnes oilseeds valued at INR 784.77 crore through which 114,338 farmers have been benefited. During the lockdown period, 97,337.35 metric tonnes of Rabi pulses & oilseeds have been procured under PSS scheme, the Indian agriculture ministry said in a statement.
The procurement of Pulses & Oilseeds at MSP from farmers under the Price Support Scheme (PSS) scheme in Rabi 2020-21 season is currently in progress in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana, the statement added.
Toor procurement recorded at 532,849 metric tonnes
Giving out details, the government release added that toor is being procured from farmers by NAFED at MSP under the Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) scheme and also for the buffer stock of pulses. Toor procurement under PSS/PSF Kharif 2019- 20 season is underway in the States of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka & Telangana.
The total procurement of Toor during Kharif Marketing Season 2019-20 is 532,849 metric tonnes out of which 29,328.62 metric tonnes of Toor have been procured since the lockdown period.
In Rajasthan, procurement of pulses and oilseeds in the Kota Division was stopped after the announcement of lockdown. From 15-04-2020, 54 centers in Kota division have started functioning and more procurement centers would be made operational in the coming days.
Procurement in remaining Divisions of Rajasthan is proposed from the first week of May 2020. A maximum of 10 farmers per day is called per procurement center and accordingly, information is sent to farmers.
The procurement of Mustard seeds and Gram was started in Haryana from 15 April 2020 in 163 centres. Limited numbers of farmers are being called every day to maintain social distancing. About 27,276.77 metric tonnes of Mustard seed has been procured from about 10,111 farmers in the first two days.
Preparations have been made for procurement of Gram, Masoor, and Mustard in Madhya Pradesh and farmers have been informed to bring their produce to the procurement centres.
