Mustard procurement by the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (Nafed) has ended at 19 lakh tonne. |
"Procurement has come to an end and from today onwards, we will not buy mustard on the central government account," said Alok Ranjan, Nafed managing director. |
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Agriculture ministry sources said the finance ministry has sent a note to the former suggesting the allocation for mustard procurement should not be higher than last year, that is Rs 3,600 crore. "With this amount, Nafed has procured 19 lakh tonne till Sunday (May 7), compared with 20.09 lakh tonne last year, as the minimum support price was raised to Rs 1,715 per quintal for this season, compared with last year's Rs 1,700," the official said. |
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Nafed, however, is yet to receive the note sent by the finance ministry to the agriculture ministry. The federation, however, has stopped procurement following orders from the agriculture ministry. |
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"State governments have expressed their unhappiness over this issue. We have told them that we are open to procuring more grain on their account if required. However, buying on the central government account has come to an end now," said Ranjan. |
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Sources in the federation said the state governments, especially Rajasthan, may soon approach the Centre to initiate mustard buying again. Rajasthan, the largest producer of mustard, has a huge stock of seed in the state. |
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Mustard procurement had started on March 1 this year, a month earlier than usual. It was done in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Punjab. |
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Market players had expected mustard procurement to touch 25 lakh tonne this year, keeping in mind higher production. As per official estimates, the procurement of 25 lakh tonne seed would have required about Rs 4,500 crore. |
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The rise in estimated procurement was also due to better official price at Rs 1,715 a quintal when the market price is hovering about Rs 1,500. |
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