To pacify farmers, govt set to relax procurement norms for moong

Chandigarh, July 2

The Punjab Government is set to relax its specifications for buying moong, so as to woo farmers protesting against the stringent procurement norms.

Govt buys 15,903 MT

• 1,28,638 MT moong has been bought in the state, of which government purchased only 15,903 MT
• In Jagraon, the biggest mandi for moong purchase, traders bought 10,409 MT of the 10,809 MT of total arrivals
• While 2,351 farmers sold their crop to private traders, government could purchase the crop from only 114 farmers at the MSP
• This year, moong was cultivated as a third crop and sown on over 1 lakh acres, up from 50,000 acres last year

For the moong that has been bought by private traders at rates below the MSP, the state government will be paying the difference of the rate at which the crop has been bought and the Minimum Support Price of Rs 7,275 per quintal.

This announcement was made by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday. He said in case the crop was badly damaged and sold for less than Rs 6,000 per quintal, a maximum of Rs 1,000 per quintal of crop would be paid to the farmer.

“Since farmers went in for moong cultivation on our insistence, it is our duty to support them,” he said, while making this announcement. He said instructions have been issued to state Finance Department to make arrangements to release the money to farmers at the earliest.

Farmers have been protesting against the “unfair specifications imposed by the government” on the purchase of moong at the MSP of Rs 7,275 per quintal. Last month, state-wide protests were held, as farmers claimed that the specifications announced for government purchase was leading to most of the crop being rejected. As a result, farmers were forced to sell their produce to private traders, who were paying between Rs 4,910-Rs 6,900 per quintal to farmers. Around 1.20 lakh MT of produce had been purchased at below the MSP. However, in spite of getting rates much lesser than MSP, farmers’ income per acre has increased substantially, say officers in Markfed.

As a result, the new notification issued on Saturday says that up to 8 per cent shrivelled moong can be accepted; with 6 per cent fully damaged and up to 7 per cent partial damage can be accepted for government purchase.

Official sources in the Agriculture Department told The Tribune that the specifications for purchase allows up to 2 per cent impurities in moong, maximum of 3 per cent of admixture and unripe crop. Shrivelled and immature moong of up to 4 per cent, 3 per cent of completely damaged crop and 4 per cent of partially damaged crop is allowed, while 4 per cent of weevil infested crop is allowed. The moisture content in the crop cannot exceed 12 per cent.

Official sources said the government increased the percentage of damaged grains and shrivelled grains to be bought by its agency, Markfed, so as to increase the government purchase.