Can't procure groundnut from Guj this Kharif season: NAFED

Central agency NAFED has said it is not in a position to procure groundnut from Gujarat during Kharif 2018-19, citing irregularities in procurement and storage in the previous season.

Gujarat Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil shared with the media Saturday a letter written by executive director (pulses and oilseeds) of the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) to other departments of the Union Ministry of Agriculture.

The letter said that in view of irregularities in procurement and storage of groundnut during Kharif 2017-18, NAFED is "finding it difficult to undertake procurement in the state of Gujarat" this season.

Another reason it cited was non-utilisation of 3.37 lakh tons of groundnut procured in 2017-18, as the state government failed to meet its commitment to "utilise price support system (PSS) stock of groundnut under the Public Distribution System (PDS)".

The letter is dated November 15.

"I would like to ask the Gujarat government who should be held responsible for the sufferings of farmers due to non-procurement of groundnut," Gohil said, reiterating the Congress' demand of inquiry by a high court judge into mismanagement in storage of PSS groundnut in Gujarat State Warehousing Corporation (GSWC) godowns.

"The government should also let farmers know how it would compensate them," he said.

Criticising the GSWC for not "following the standard operating procedure for safe storage of procured stock," NAFED said in the letter that this led to incidents of fire and adulteration of stock.

"The organisation suffers from acute shortage of trained manpower and the godowns hired by them are often far from procuring areas...It would be better to task Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) or any other such agency to do the same before procurement is undertaken," it said.

The Gujarat government had committed to utilise PSS stock of groundnut procured last season under PDS, but around 3.37 lakh tons are still lying in godowns, it said.

Reacting to NAFED's letter, Union Minister of State for Agriculture Parshottam Rupala said the government will find a way to purchase the stock from farmers.

"When the price of the groundnut was down, the Central government helped farmers under this policy (PSS). If an institution withdraws (from the process), it does not stop the process. We will find a solution to this," Rupala told reporters.

Groundnut stocks worth Rs 31 crore procured by NAFED were destroyed in fires at godowns at Gondal and Shapar in Rajkot district this year. A stock stored in a private godown at Pedhla was found adulterated with sand and stones.