NAFED to procure green gram at MSP

Procurement to start from Monday

September 08, 2017 10:16 pm | Updated 10:16 pm IST - HYDERABAD

The Centre has agreed to open 25 green gram procurement centres in Telangana from Monday to stabilise the market price of the food crop, which is much below the minimum support price (MSP) of ₹ 5,575 per quintal in the market. The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd. (NAFED) will procure the produce with the help of the Marketing Department.

Minister for Marketing T. Harish Rao on Friday asked farmers not to sell their green gram produce less than the MSP since the Centre had agreed to procure it from Monday. The Centre’s decision follows the Minister’s meeting with Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh in Delhi on Wednesday and letters written by the State government to the Centre earlier requesting it to advance the implementation of MSP for green gram from the first week of September instead of October first week.

Mr. Harish Rao had explained to the Union Minister that the crop would be harvested early in Telangana and by the time the MSP would come into force in October, the farmers would have sold all their produce to local traders and other markets at lesser price than the MSP.

The Minister spoke to Director of the Central Market Intervention Scheme Shashi Bhushan and Managing Director of NAFED Sanjeev Kumar Chadha over phone on Friday and discussed the issue as suggested by the Union Minister. Later, the Minister held a meeting with the officials of the Marketing Department and stated that 20 to 25 procurement centres would help to stabilise the market price.

It was decided that procurement centres would be opened in the areas where the green gram cultivation was high. The green gram crop has been cultivated in 0.89 lakh hectares (2,22,500 acres) this kharif season and about one-lakh tonnes of production is expected.

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