Deogarh: Farmers in this district will now be able to get the right price on their harvest as the state owned Markfed will purchase the groundnuts cultivated by them at minimum support price, a report said.
The matter came to the fore after the District Collector Sudhansu Mohan Samal launched groundnut procurement from the farmers by the Odisha State Cooperative Marketing Federation (Markfed), Tuesday.
Joining as chief guest, Collector Samal launched the programme organised on the premises of Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendra at Dandasingha panchayat under Barkote block in the district.
Over 120 farmers registered their names and sold their harvest to Markfed at Rs 5,275 per quintal. The groundnuts from the farmers in rest of the blocks will be purchased soon in phases.
In the first phase, Markfed has been assigned to purchase 200 metric tonnes of groundnuts from the farmers.
Among others, Sambit Tripathy, the chief executive officer of Odisha Livelihood Mission, Ratnakar Tripathy, director Parshuram Panda, the regional manager of Markfed, Nimain Nayak, assistant registrar of cooperative society, Manoj Kumar Mohanta, secretary, regulated marketing committee attended the launching function.
Reports said that cultivation of seasonal fruits like mangos, litchis, watermelons and oranges, paddy, vegetables and onions is the main livelihood of the farmers in the district.
However, due to lack of adequate marketing facilities, farmers fail to get the right price for their harvest and fail to earn their livelihood and face financial loss. As a result, farmers in the district lack interest for cultivation of pulses and other crops.
However, farmers after lots of efforts had taken up cultivation of corns and groundnuts. But they continue to remain impoverished due to lack of marketing facilities for their crops.
The district administration realised this and involved Markfed in procurement of groundnuts from the farmers.
PNN
