Expedite groundnut procurement, farmers tell Gujarat government

Farmers in many parts of the state have alleged delay in the procurement of groundnut. They fear that they will be forced to buy groundnut in the open market below the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 5,000 per quintal. They also claim that farmers who have sold the crop are yet to receive payments. Officials replied that they are trying to expedite the process and payments have already begun.

Atul Patel, coordinator of Gujarat Khedut Hit Rakshak Samiti complained to Chief Minister Vijay Rupani in a letter stating that nearly 2,700 farmers from Vanthali taluka in Junagadh have registered for procurement. "Of these, only 700 have sold their produce so far. Against the target of 100 farmers per day, only 20 are accommodated," he Patel.

Hitesh Patel from Dadhalia village of Aravalli district said that of about 2,000 farmers, only 350 have been covered so far at the Modasa centre, however, none of them have received payment. He said that delay in procurement has forced farmers to buy at below MSP.

Manish Bhardwaj, MD of Gujarat Civil Supplies Corporation, which is procuring groundnut on behalf of National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED), said that the corporation is procuring 75,000 quintals of groundnut per day and plans it to raise it to 1,00,000 quintals per day.

"Unless NAFED issues warehouse receipts, we cannot get funds from Centre. We have paid Rs 103 crore to 10,256 farmers across the state from our funds. We have a specific quota to procure. But every action needs to be meticulous. The process is foolproof and so it is taking time, but we are expediting it," Bhardwaj said.