Bhubaneswar: The state government will commence procurement of rabi oilseeds and pulses under Price Support Scheme (PSS) from farmers starting May 7.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare has approved a proposal for procurement of 14,121 tonne of green gram (moong), 5,425 tonnes of peanuts and 8,750 tonnes of sunflower seeds from farmers at minimum support price (MSP) announced for 2020-21 rabi season to save farmers from exploitation from middlemen.
The union government has fixed the MSP of fair average quality (FAQ) green gram at Rs 7,050 per quintal, black gram at Rs 5,700 per quintal, sunflower seeds at Rs. 5,650 per quintal and peanuts at Rs 5,090 per quintal.
The procurement operation, which will continue for three months till August 5, will be undertaken by Odisha State Cooperative Marketing Federation (MARKFED) for National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED).
MARKFED being the nodal agency will procure oilseeds and pulses from farmers through primary agriculture cooperative societies (PACS) and large area multi-purpose cooperative societies (LAMPS), regulated market committees (RMCs) and farmers’ producer organisations having the requisite infrastructure and sound financial position.
The state government has ordered all the above authorities to start farmers’ name registration process and complete the job within May 7.
The government ordered to collect 3 quintal of green gram and black gram per acres of land, 5 quintal sun-flower seeds per acres of land and 8 quintal peanuts per acres of land in each district.
In the first phase, pulses and oilseeds will be procured from 16 districts including Nuapada, Balasore, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Puri, Rayagada, Kalahandi, Malkangiri, Bargarh, Jajpur, Khordha and Keonjhar where surplus is estimated during the current kharif season.
Procurement of pulses and oilseeds under PSS will be made only from farmers who have registered their names with PACS/LAMPS/RMC by May 7.
Payment will be released directly to the bank accounts of the farmers on digital platform by MARKFED within three days from the actual delivery of their produces to the procuring agencies.
PNN
