The Hindu Business Line : Nafed `fully geared' to procure mustard

THE National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (Nafed) on Friday said it was "fully geared" to procure "massive quantities" of mustardseed under the Centre's Price Support Scheme (PSS).

The Deputy Managing Director of Nafed, Mr Jagmohan Bhanot, said Nafed has so far procured a quantity of 5,000 tonnes during the current season. According to him, daily arrivals in the various mandis of Rajasthan are currently in the region of 3,000-4,000 tonnes, having commenced around 10 days back.

"Roughly 70 per cent of the mustard arrivals now are having moisture content of 9-10 per cent, whereas our mandate under the PSS requires us to procure only fair average quality (FAQ) crop at minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 1,700 per quintal. One of the criteria laid down under the PSS is that the moisture content should not be more than 8 per cent," Mr Bhanot said.

The high moisture content in the mustard arriving in the markets currently was on account of the recent untimely rains that had impacted the standing crop.

Mr Bhanot said Nafed's procurement would start picking up in the coming days in view of the bumper crop hopes of 75 lakh tonnes (lt).

Rajasthan alone is slated to harvest a crop of 35 lt and taking this into account, "both we and the Rajasthan State Cooperative Oilseeds Growers Federation or Tilam Sangh have opened procurement centres all over the State."

Already, 149 centres had been identified for the purpose, he added.

On March 5, senior officials of Nafed would be meeting Rajasthan Government representatives at Jaipur to review the situation, Mr Bhanot said.

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