 "Centre's finger on pulses cartel")
Government agencies have so far procured 34,546 tonnes of moong and urad dals directly from farmers for its buffer stock to be used later to boost supply in the open market and curb price rise.
"The government agencies have procured 34,546.69 tonnes of moong and urad as on October 25 during the ongoing kharif marketing season (KMS)," the food ministry said in a statement.
The state-owned Food Corporation of India (FCI), agri- cooperative NAFED and the Small Farmers' Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) are procuring kharif pulses from farmers to ensure the minimum support price (MSP) for their crops in pulse-producing states.
So far, FCI has procured 8,166.71 tonnes, NAFED 23,510.13 tonnes and SFAC 2,869.85 tonnes of moong and urad since the arrival of kharif crop during the ongoing KMS 2016-17, it said.
The arrival of kharif pulses has started from this month. These agencies have set up 200 procurement centres and aim to procure 50,000 tonnes of kharif pulses.
Production of pulses is estimated to rise 57% to a record 8.7 million tonnes in the kharif season this year from 5.54 million tonnes in the previous season.
The government has decided to create a 2-million tonne buffer stock of pulses through domestic procurement and imports to make market intervention in the case of price rise.
