The State Cabinet sub-committee on agricultural and horticultural price stabilisation has given the green signal for procuring groundnut, paddy, toor dal, ragi, jowar and blackgram by providing the minimum support prices (MSP) as a result of a crash in prices of these crops.
Disclosing this to mediapersons in Bengaluru on Tuesday, Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi, who is also chairman of the sub-committee, said Deputy Commissioners of all districts had been asked to set up procurement centres. He said the increase in production level could be one reason for the crash in prices.
Paddy would be procured at ₹2,015 and ₹2,035 a quintal depending upon the quality, while white jowar would be procured at ₹2,550 a quintal. The Maldandi variety of jowar would be procured at ₹2,570 a quintal, he said.
Ragi would be procured at ₹3,150 a quintal and groundnut would be procured at ₹5,090 a quintal while toor dal would be bought at ₹6,100 a quintal, he said.
The sub-committee had prescribed a ceiling with respect to the maximum quantum of produce to be procured from individual farmers. Accordingly, the maximum quantum that could be sold at the procurement centres by individual farmers stood at 40 quintals for paddy, 50 quintals for ragi, 15 quintals for groundnut and 10 quintals for toor dal.
Seeking to allay the fear that the recent bouts of floods in some regions and droughts in some others may affect foodgrain production, the Deputy Chief Minister, who also holds agriculture portfolio, said good storage in reservoirs had helped in stabilising food production. However, he clarified that no survey or estimate regarding the foodgrain production was yet to be made.
Substantiating this, he said the fact that prices of various crops had dipped due to good production was an indication that good storage position in reservoirs due to heavy rainfall had helped farm production in some regions.
In fact, Tunga Bhadra region basin farmers had got an additional 7 tmc of water rather than the normal availability in the recent cultivation period owing to heavy rainfall, he explained. Such a healthy storage in reservoir had helped in boosting paddy production even in tail-end regions of canals of the basin, he said.
Water from dams for summer crops
There is some good news for farmers in command areas of various irrigation projects in the State as the government is thinking of facilitating them to grow summer crops this time by releasing water from the reservoirs.
Mr. Savadi said that priority would, however, be given to drinking water purposes. “We will assess the requirement for drinking water purpose and ensure availability of the remaining water for irrigation,” he said. The recent floods and heavy rains had resulted in good storage in most of the reservoirs, the minister said.
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