BHUBANESWAR: The State Government has decided to commence procurement of oil seeds and pulses under Price Support Scheme (PSS) from farmers starting May 24.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare has approved the State Government’s proposal for procurement of 14,210 tonne of green gram (Moong), 1,103 tonne of black gram (Biri), 6,580 tonne of shelled groundnut and 10,500 tonne of sunflower seeds from farmers at Minimum Support Price (MSP) for 2018-19 Rabi season to prevent distress sale.
The Centre has fixed the MSP of Moong at Rs 6,975 per quintal, Biri at Rs 5,600 per quintal, groundnut at Rs 4,890 per quintal and sunflower seed at Rs 5,388 per quintal. The procurement operation, which will continue for two months till July 27, will be undertaken by National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (Nafed) through two State agencies - Odisha State Cooperative Marketing Federation (Markfed) and Tribal Development Cooperative Corporation of Odisha Limited (TDCCL).
The State agencies will procure oilseeds and pulses from farmers through primary agriculture cooperative societies and large area multi-purpose cooperative societies under PSS. The amount spent on procurement by the State Government will be reimbursed by Nafed.
Meanwhile, the Cooperation department has directed Markfed and TDCCL to start procurement of Rabi crops from registered farmers of all 30 districts in the State. Procurement will start from May 24 by designated agencies in identified centres of each district. More procurement centres, if necessary, could be opened as per the recommendation of district Collectors in consultation with Markfed, TDCCL and Nafed.
As the Model Code of Conduct enforced for the General Elections will be lifted on May 23, the regulated market committees of the Cooperation department have been asked to give adequate publicity to create awareness among farmers on procurement of oilseeds and pulses for the current Rabi marketing season.
The Agriculture Department has been asked to engage its field staff including village level workers for proper identification of farmers and sharecroppers. Payments will be made directly to the bank accounts of farmers within three days from the actual delivery of their products to the procuring agency.