Haryana hikes procurement quota of sunflower to 9,500 MT

Nitish Sharma

Tribune News Service

Ambala, June 16

In a major relief to farmers, the Haryana Government has increased the procurement quota of sunflower to 9,500 metric tonne (MT).

Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, has issued directions to the Managing Director, HAFED, and Managing Director, Haryana Warehousing Corporation, regarding the procurement.

Earlier, HAFED had purchased 2,375 MT of sunflower for the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED). However, after the quota for the purchase of 25 per cent of the total production for NAFED got exhausted, the procurement was stopped on Monday, following which farmers had marked their resentment and threatened to launch an agitation.

On Tuesday, the procurement resumed, but farmers were not happy as HAFED targeted to procure only 3,820 MT of sunflower. As per information, in fresh directions, the procurement quota has been increased to 9,500 MT.

The ACS has directed that once HAFED completed the purchase up to 3,820 MT of sunflower, rest of the arrivals would be purchased commercially on the MSP.

The commercial purchase would be so affected that the total purchase (including the purchase of 3,820 MT) doesn’t exceed 9,500 MT.

The remaining quota of 5,680 MT would be procured by HAFED and Haryana Warehousing Corporation on 50:50 basis. The commission agents can also participate in the procurement process. While agents will get their commission, the payment of crop will be directly transferred into the accounts of farmers.

The ACS has also cautioned the agencies, including officials of the HSAMB, to ensure that only crop of genuine Haryana farmers was procured and nobody be allowed to take undue advantage of the commercial purchase. There have been instances of fictitious gate passes being generated in the past.

The minimum support price (MSP) for the sunflower crop is Rs 5,388 per quintal.