Faced with a bumper harvest of groundnut crop, the Gujarat government has urged the Centre to allow additional procurement of 4 lakh tonnes (lt) of the oilseed at MSP level by Nafed, even as agencies flag storage concerns as warehouses across the State are flush with already procured nuts.
Nodal agencies have collectively procured about 7.76 lt of groundnut worth ₹3,495 crore so far. In the next two days, the total target of 8 lt of procurement will be achieved, sources informed.
“In the wake of the continued higher arrivals, the State government has urged the Central government to allow procurement of 4 lakh tonnes of groundnut, in addition to the current target of 8 lakh tonnes. We believe that our request will soon be approved,” said Bharat Modi, Director of Agriculture, Gujarat government.
The State government has estimated record bumper crop of the oilseed this kharif season at about 32 lt.
Groundnut procurement had started since last week of October 2017 at the support price of ₹4,500 per quintal.
As the arrivals started rising, the number of procurement centres were increased to 253.As on January 18, 137 centres located within APMCs were active.
Nafed sources maintained that even if the government wishes to continue with the procurement for additional 4 lt of groundnut, the warehouse facilities have to be made available.