Relief for Haryana farmers as Hafed starts procurement of mustard seeds
Nitish Sharma
Kurukshetra, March 14
In a relief to the mustard farmers who had been waiting to sell their produce, the Hafed today started the procurement of oil seeds. On Tuesday, the government procurement agency procured about 110 quintal stock at the Ladwa grain market, which was declared as the purchase centre for Kurukshetra.
Meri Fasal Mera Byora
- Over 5,300 mustard farmers have got their 13,415 acres registered in Ambala and over 4,000 mustard farmers in Kurukshetra have got 9,484 acres registered on ‘Meri Fasal Mera Byora’ portal
- The government has declared 92 grain markets as purchase centres across the state for the procurement for rabi marketing season
In the absence of the government purchase and lukewarm demand, the farmers were forced to sell their mustard crop below the MSP this year. While the MSP for the season is Rs 5,450/quintal, the oilseeds were fetching 4,600 to 5,400 a quintal in open market.
In a direction to district managers, issued on Monday, Hafed stated that in order to stabilise the market and in the interest of the farmers, Hafed will start the commercial procurement of mustard seeds conforming to the fair average quality specifications of the government at Rs 5,450/quintal with effect from March 14.
Pawan Garg, a private trader, said: “With the government agency entering the market, an increase of around Rs 200-300 a quintal is being observed in the prices being offered in the open market, but it is unlikely to see any major uptrend in the mustard prices due to lukewarm demand and lower oil prices. The farmers are being offered Rs 4,800 to 5,100 a quintal for black mustard and Rs 5,500 to 5,700 a quintal for yellow mustard.”
Shamsher Singh, Hafeddistrict manager in Kurukshetra, said: “The agency has procured 110 quintal stock as per the government specifications. The agency has started commercial procurement today and it will continue till the start of the procurement under the price support system from March 20.”
The government has declared 92 grain markets as purchase centres across the state for the procurement for rabi marketing season 2023-24. However, the farmer unions have demanded that the number of purchase centres should be increased to facilitate farmers.
BKU (SBS) president Amarjeet Singh said: “Only two grain markets have been declared as purchase centres in Ambala and Kurukshetra, which means the farmers have to burn extra fuel to sell their produce. The government should increase the centres.”
BKU (Charuni) spokesman Rakesh Bains said: “If the government really wants the farmers to adopt crop diversification and motivate the farmers to increase oilseed areas, it had to facilitate farmers by providing procurement facilities at all grain markets. The government should advance the procurement process in future as a huge quantity was already sold before the procurement agencies enter the market.”
