CHANDIGARH: Even as the moong season draws to a close, the government purchase of the crop in the state mandis is nil. Promoted with much fanfare by the government, as part of the state’s crop diversification plan, there has been no government purchase of moong this year so far.
The result: Over 99 per cent of the purchase has been made at rates below the minimum support price of Rs 8,555 per quintal (announced by the Centre). Private players are purchasing moong at Rs 7,800- 8,000 per quintal.
Ever since the beginning of moong procurement in May-end, 26,966 metric tonne (MT) produce has arrived in the state mandis, all of which has been bought by private players. Of this, 26,865 MT moong (99.62 per cent) was bought by them at prices lower than the MSP. During the past two years, ever since the state government promoted the sowing of summer moong, MARKFED made some procurement on behalf of the Government of India.
In 2022, MARKFED procured over 5,500 MT moong after getting relaxed the norms as regards the fair average quality of produce. However, NAFED (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India) refused to accept the entire stock and accepted only 2,500 MT. As a result, MARKFED and the Punjab Mandi Board incurred an estimated loss of around Rs 40 crore on that procurement.
Last year, only 2,500 MT moong was procured by MARKFED for the central pool, but without getting specifications relaxed.
This year, however, MARKFED officials claim that no notification has been issued by the Agriculture Department to procure moong for the central pool. As a result, farmer Balraj Singh of Kharaksinghwala village in Barnala, who cultivated moong on 100 acres, sold his produce to a private firm at around minimum support price, a rarity.
At Jagraon, commission agent Naveen Garg said there was no government purchase of moong this year so far, although 75 per cent of the total produce had already reached mandis and had been bought by private players. “The crop is selling around Rs 500-700 per quintal below MSP,” he added.
The saving grace, say farmers, is the highest-ever moong yield this year, which has helped them mitigate the losses caused by selling the crop below minimum support price. Rajbir Singh, who cultivated summer moong on 55 acres in Moga, said the crop yield was up 8-9 quintals per acre this year. “Though the buyer offered only Rs 8,000 per quintal, the higher production of moong helped me earn a profit,” he said.