Govt procures 3273 tons of moong at MSP and bonus rate

The Dollar Business Bureau

The Government has procured 3,273 tonnes of moong from farmers at the minimum support price (MSP) and bonus rate to protect their interest.

"Since the start of arrival of new crop in the market, the Government agencies have procured 3273.16 MT Moong as on Sept 19, 2016 benefiting 330 farmers," said the food ministry in a statement.

The Government agencies –Food Corporation of India (FCI), National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd. (NAFED) and Small Farmers' Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) have established about 200 procurement centres to procure Moong from farmers at (MSP) i.e Rs. 4,800 and bonus Rs. 425 during kharif 2016-17 season.

Usually the kharif season begins from October. However, the new moong crop has already hit the market, and consequently mandi prices are ruling below the MSP level.

Pulses procurement started during the second week this month in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Parades, Maharashtra and Telangana.

The procured pulses are stored as buffer stock. The government looks to expanding it to about 2 million tonnes this year.

The centre has directed the involved agencies to publicise their procurement activities among farmers to ensure that farmers get the benefit of the MSP.

The procurement of pulses is a part of the government’s plan to encourage farmers to grow lentils in the upcoming rabi season. India expects to produce about 20-21 million tonnes of pulses on the back of good monsoon.

The drought for the two consecutive years had brought down the domestic pulses output to 16.47 million tonnes in the 2015-16 fiscal and 17.15 million tonnes in 2014-15 from 19.25 million tonnes in 2013-14.