HAFED buys 1.67 lakh tonne mustard at MSP

Haryana State Cooperative Supply and Marketing Federation ( HAFED) has so far procured more than 1.67 lakh quintals of mustard seed from 7,536 farmers of 1,130 villages in the State. The procurement would continue till May 10, 2017.

The chairman, HAFED, Harvinder Kalyan, said that procurement of mustard seed at Minimum Support Price ( MSP) of Rs 3,700 per quintal, was currently underway at 13 purchase centres in nine districts in the State, including Gurugram, Rewari, Narnaul, Jhajjar, Rohtak, Charkhi Dadri, Bhiwani, Hisar and Sirsa.

He said that as the mustard growers in the State were selling their produce at the prevailing market rate, which was below the MSP in March, 2017, the Haryana Government had immediately stepped in to protect the interests of the farmers by deciding to procure mustard seed at the MSP. This MSP, which includes a bonus of Rs 100, is well above the prevailing market rate.

He said that HAFED was procuring mustard seed at MSP under the Price Support Scheme (PSS) of the Government of India on behalf of NAFED. HAFED is procuring mustard seed directly from the farmers through the shops of its member Cooperative Marketing Societies. The payments are being made electronically through RTGS to the bank accounts of the farmers.

Mr. Kalian said that Haryana has till date procured 67.46 lakh metric tonnes of wheat during Rabi-2017. Of this, HAFED has so far purchased the largest share of 35 per cent, by procuring 23.90 lakh metric tonnes of wheat from farmers across the State.