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Journalism of Courage
With just days left before the Central Government’s deadline to procure a massive 30 lakh tonnes (lt) of soyabean from farmers, most states are still way behind their procurement targets.
Data shared by the National Cooperative Agricultural Marketing Federation (NAFED) showed that procurement is on in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Of these, Maharashtra, where soyabean is a major cash crop, has the highest target of 14.13 lakh tonnes (lt) within a deadline of January 12. But the state has procured just 1.45 lt.
As soyabean prices trade below their government declared prices, traders’ bodies have urged the Central Government to speed up the procurement.
NAFED’s procurement at the government declared Minimum Support Price (MSP) is a market intervention to help farmers get better prices for their produce. Farmers are able to sell their Fair and Average Quality (FAQ) soyabean at the MSP of Rs 4,892/quintal at the government-run procurement centres.
According to NAFED, nationwide procurement of soyabean stood at 5.05 lt till December 17, as against the target of 33.60 lt.
Barring Gujarat, the procurement window for soyabean is set to close in most parts of the country by January 15.
In terms of procurement target, Maharashtra is followed by Madhya Pradesh (13.68 lt), Rajasthan (2.94 lt) Gujarat (1.14 lt), Karnataka (1.11 lt) and Telangana (59,508 tonnes).
Telangana is the only state where the procurement target is likely to be met – the state has recorded procurement of 59,501 tonnes of soyabean and their procurement window closed on December 23.
Madhya Pradesh 2.58 lt, Karnataka 9,110.90 tonnes, Rajasthan 15,490 tonnes, and Gujarat 17,316.55 tonnes are all lagging behind their targets. The procurement window is set to close in most states by mid-January or early February.
Given the extremely slow rate of procurement in most markets, farmers are forced to sell their produce at a rate of Rs 4,050-4,060 per quintal.
The low procurement comes even as the Central Government had announced an early start to the process in view of the elections in Maharashtra.
However, on ground the lack of proper procurement agencies and infrastructure has resulted in low procurement. While higher moisture content was a problem in the initial days, the Central Government had relaxed that condition but still procurement has failed to pick up.
