Procurement of groundnut by State agencies is progressing at a snail’s pace in Gujarat, with farmers queuing up with large quantities of their crop, even as the market prices continue to remain below the support price of ₹4,500 per quintal.

As per the data provided by the State agencies, since October 25, 10,034 tonnes of groundnut were procured at the support price levels.

This is much lower compared to the daily arrivals of groundnut in the range of ₹3,500-₹5,000 tonnes at key markets, including Rajkot and Gondal.

“The procurement is progressing well, but the wait is very long. We have sold about 4,800 kg of groundnut at the Jodiya procurement center two days ago. The payment is expected within a week or 10 days.

“Payment is pending even for those who sold at the beginning of the procurement process. The only concern is that payment should be made quickly to make it easy for the farmers,” said Chandrakant Dalsania, a farmer from Lakhtar in Jamnagar district.

Procurement centers

However, looking at the increased arrivals and huge quantities of the crop, the government increased the number of procurement centers from 106 to 123. However, currently about 88 centers are active for procurement.

According to sources at the procurement agencies, as much as 3.2-lakh tonnes of groundnut is likely to be procured during the season, which is higher compared to 2.1-lakh tonnes procured last year.

However, those farmers who are in immediate need of money and prefer to sell their crop in the open market, get lesser amount than the MSP. The market rate for different variety of groundnut hovers between ₹3,500-₹4,250 per quintal.

Currently, apart from procurement agencies, stockists have entered the market to stock groundnut, taking advantage of the lower market price.

“The delay in payment is mainly because of the multiple layers of scrutiny of goods and warehousing processes. But that is well understood by the farmers. The maximum quantity any farmer can sell at the procurement price is fixed at 2,009 kg per hectare,” said an official at a procurement agency.

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