Nafed buys 24,000 tonnes moong so far under price support scheme

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The government has procured 24,000 tonnes of green gram (moong) under the Price Support Scheme (PSS) so far this crop year, according to a senior agriculture ministry official.

PSS, which is under the Agriculture Ministry, is operationalised only when prices of agri-produce fall below the minimum support price (MSP). Cooperative Nafed is undertaking procurement on behalf of the central government.

The ministry has approved procurement of 4,00,000 tonnes of kharif moong in 10 states including Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha and Maharashtra.

"So far 24,000 tonnes of moong has been procured, out of which maximum 18,000 to 19,000 tonnes has been procured in Karnataka alone," the ministry official told PTI.

The ministry has also given approval for the procurement of 2,94,000 tonnes of urad and 14 lakh tonnes of groundnut crop grown in the 2022-23 Kharif season.

However, the procurement couldn't take place as the mandi prices are ruling above the MSP in the key growing states, the official added.

Meanwhile, the government has a stock of 25,00,00 tonnes of chana procured in the last 2-3 years under the PSS. The government has started disposing some of the stock to the state governments for consumption under several welfare schemes.

As per the first advance estimate of the agriculture Ministry, moong production is pegged at 1.75 million tonnes, urad at 1.84 million tonnes and groundnut at 8.36 million tonnes in the 2022-23 Kharif season.