The Gujarat Government is set to start procurement for groundnut in Saurashtra region from 122 designated centres from November 15th.
The State government has fixed ₹ 5000 per quintal as the purchase price under the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for groundnut for the current season.
As per the government projections, groundnut output will be at about 2.7 million tonnes for the year 2018-19. It may be noted that groundnut is one of the cash crops in Saurashtra region and its acreage in the region for the year 2018-19 was recorded at 14.67 lakh hectares, down 8% from last year.
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The State government has already announced procurement of groundnut at MSP rates of ₹4,890 per quintal set by the central government along with the bonus of₹110 per quintal with an effective procurement price of ₹5,000. The bonus amount will be borne by the state in a bid to hike the MSP to support farmers.
For procurement of groundnut, the government has appointed the State civil supply corporation as the nodal agency and entire procurement will be done through the corporation.
“Currently, registration of farmers is underway and from November 15th, procurement will begin,” said Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel.
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According to sources in the agriculture department, so far more than 10000 farmers have registered online to sell their produce under the MSP.
The State government has not set any target for procurement, but the standard procurement practices suggest up to 25 % of the total crop can be procured at MSP level.
As per the government’s current estimate of about 2.7 million tonnes of groundnut production in the current season in Gujarat, the procurement is likely to be about 6-7 lakh tonnes.