Maharashtra’s chana procurement all set to cross target of 6.8-lakh tonne

One of the main issues which marked this year’s procurement was the extra long window given to farmers to register for the process.

As of Tuesday, Nafed's procurement has stopped as the agency has fulfilled its 6 lakh tonne target in the state. But sub agents are in a fix with more farmers lined up at the centres. (File)

AT the fag end of Maharashtra’s chana procurement season, the state looks set to cross the 6.89 lakh tonnes of target given to it under the Price Support Scheme (PSS). In some districts, sub agents of the National Cooperative Marketing Federation (Nafed) have raised issues with regards to warehouse space.

Faced with a bumper harvest and low prices, Nafed and the Food Corporation of India (FCI) had started procurement at the government-declared Minimum Support Price (MSP). Nafed’s procurements were done through its sub agents namely MahaFPC, Maharashtra State Cooperative Marketing Federation, the Vidarbha Agriculture and Allied Producer Company, the Vidarbha Cooperative Marketing Company and the Pruthashakti Farmer Producer Company. As of Tuesday, Maharashtra had procured 6.6 lakh tonnes of the commodity. With procurement ending on May 31, agencies say the state will easily overshoot its procurement figure. The excess amount procurement would have to be borne by the state government.

As of Tuesday, Nafed’s procurement has stopped as the agency has fulfilled its 6 lakh tonne target in the state. But sub agents are in a fix with more farmers lined up at the centres.

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Meanwhile, at the ground level, agencies attribute this bumper procurement to various causes. One of the main issues which marked this year’s procurement was the extra long window given to farmers to register for the process. The registration window was closed only on May 17 after repeated follow up with the state government. At the start of the procurement season, farmers were lukewarm towards government procurement as wholesale prices were hovering near the government defined Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 5,230/quintal. However, as chana prices continued to travel south, farmers continued to line up at the government procurement centre.

Ground agencies had this time set up village-level procurement centres, which allowed farmers to access government procurement centres easily.

However, state government officials say that basic guidelines of allowing procurement as per the availability of the scientific storage space available was overlooked. “At the start of the season, the warehouses of Maharashtra State Warehouse Corporation (MSWC) had around over 3.78 lakh tonnes of previously procured tur, chana and cotton. The Corporation for the season has hired 202 private godowns with space of 3.77 lakh tonnes,” said a government official. Clear communication between agencies about storage space has become a concern towards the end of the season,” said an official.

On ground, agencies operating in Latur and Amravati division have complained that warehouse spaces are now hard to get. Data shows that procurement in these two divisions have been maximum with warehouse space almost full.
Space, MSWC officials say, is available in districts of Solapur, Pune but the government guidelines and its interpretation has become a roadblock in transportation. Nafed’s guidelines talk about warehouses to be within 50 km.

Parthasarathi Biswas

Partha Sarathi Biwas is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express with 10+ years of experience in reporting on Agriculture, Commodities and Developmental issues. He has been with The Indian Express since 2011 and earlier worked with DNA. Partha's report about Farmers Producer Companies (FPC) as well long pieces on various agricultural issues have been cited by various academic publications including those published by the Government of India. He is often invited as a visiting faculty to various schools of journalism to talk about development journalism and rural reporting. In his spare time Partha trains for marathons and has participated in multiple marathons and half marathons. ... Read More

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