Gram procurement from Gujarat by the Central government at minimum support price (MSP) has broken previous records with the government buying Rs 1.98 lakh metric tonnes (MT) in the first month of the Rabi procurement season itself, surpassing the total procurement of previous years, at a higher minimum support price (MSP).
Farmers are transporting truckloads of the crop to procurement centres after a record sowing area. As per the latest figures of the National Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited (Nafed), the total procurement of gram from Gujarat stood at 1.98 lakh MT as of 7 pm on Monday.
As many as 99,841 farmers sold their pulse crop at procurement centres opened by Nafed across the state since March, the data added.
The figure of 1.98 lakh MT is higher by a distance from the existing records of procurement of gram from Gujarat by the Central government under its price support scheme (PSS).
According to data available with the Directorate of Agriculture (DAG) of Gujarat, the Centre procured 1.51 lakh MT gram from the state in the year 2020-’21, the highest in the state.
However, the procurement of the legume has crossed that mark within the first 34 days of the ongoing 2022-’23 Rabi procurement season with around two more months left in the procurement drive.
Centre had procured 1.24 lakh MT in 2019-’20 season, 17,914 metric tonnes in 2018-’19 and 90,968 metric tonnes in 2017-’18.
The record procurement this season is a combination of the Central government increasing gram MSP to Rs 5,230 per quintal, farmers sowing this crop in an all-time high area of 11.32 lakh hectare (lh) in the state and marginally lower prices in agricultural produce market committee (APMC) mandis.
The MSP for gram was just Rs 2,100 in the year 2010-’11. But Centre has been increasing it every year since, pushing it up to Rs 5,100 in 2020-’21.
As per state government estimates, the gram production in the state is likely to remain at 24.90 lakh MT, the highest in state so far and the Centre is likely to procure more than six lakh tonnes from the state this season.
“The Centre has approved the quota for procuring 4.65 lakh metric tonnes of gram from Gujarat initially,” an officer in the DAG said.
The overall procurement of gram by Nafed from across the country stood at 3.82 lakh MTand Gujarat accounted for almost half of that.
Maharashtra (1.49 lakh MT) and Telangana (35,397 metric tonnes) are the other two states where the physical procurement of gram is under progress under the PSS.
As against the assured price of Rs 5,230 at government procurement centres, those farmers selling in the open market of APMC mandis are realising an average of Rs 4,500.
“The difference between MSP and the market price is significant. Unlike groundnut, gram doesn’t lose moisture in any significant quantity post-harvest hence the weight remains almost the same if one sells soon after harvesting or say, after a month,” said Babu Savaliya (70), a farmer from Abhepar village in Lodhika taluka of Rajkot district.
“In such a context, it is profitable to wait for one’s turn at government procurement,” added Savaliya who came to sell his crop to at the old yard of Rajkot APMC in Rajkot.
His younger brother, Vitthal, who owns around five hectare land said, “I harvested 40 quintals of gram around three weeks ago. The yield was satisfactory at around 25 quintals per hectare. I was not in desperate need of money hence waited for my turn at the procurement centre.”
“They are not looking for reasons to reject my crop at the procurement centre and I am told payment is also being released faster this year,” he added.
Nafed, the apex cooperative marketing entity, has been appointed national nodal agency for procurement of gram by the Central government.
In turn, Nafed has hired Gujarat State Cooperative Marketing Federation Limited (Gujcomasol), the state’s apex cooperative marketing body, as state level agency (SLA) for running gram procurement operations. Gujcomasol has given the task of running 187 procurement centres to cooperative societies and district-level cooperative federations on its behalf.
“Initially, farmers’ turnout was low. But it has gone up significantly over the last two weeks. We are sending SMS alerts to 80 farmers every day and calling 20 others who missed their turn,” said Anil Patel, chairman of Tanasava Sardar Ginning-Processing and Kharid-Vechan Sahkari Mandali Limited.
The Tanasava Mandali is a cooperative society based in Tanasava village in Upleta taluka of Rajkot district and has been assigned the task of running the gram procurement centre for Lodhika taluka.
“The payment is also fast this season. Farmers who have sold their gram in the first half of March have already been paid their dues,” said Navneet Mayatra, who has been engaged as quality inspector at the procurement centre for Lodhika in Rajkot.
Meanwhile, the price of gram has been rising since the APMCs reopened from April 1 after the year-end closure for a week. On Monday, the price in Rajkot APMC touched Rs 4,730.
