Haryana procures over 23,000 metric tonne mustard on Friday

Haryana on Friday procured over 23,000 metric tonne (MT) of mustard crop across 163 procurement centres, where nearly 8,900 farmers brought their produce.

A total of about 23,222.38 MT mustard was purchased by the procurement agencies HAFED and State Warehousing Corporation from the farmers, Additional Chief Secretary, Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, Sanjeev Kaushal said.

"Today 8,882 farmers reported at the 163 procurement centres for procurement of mustard in the state," he said.

Mustard is grown mainly in south Haryana, including Gurugram, Mahendergarh and Rewari.

State Agriculture Minister J P Dalal had earlier said that the state government is committed to procure entire crop of farmers.

Mustard procurement began on April 15, and 56,781.68 MT has been procured in the state so far.

The minister said that about 6.5 lakh MT of mustard was procured in Haryana last year, while this time around 8-9 lakh MT of crop is expected to be procured.

Dalal said that due to COVID-19 epidemic, the procurement centres have been set up outside mandis so that farmers can sell their crops while maintaining social distancing.

As many as 91 farmers have voluntarily contributed a sum of Rs 1,02,670.62 towards the Haryana Corona Relief Fund, Kaushal said.

On wheat procurement, which is set to begin from April 20, Kaushal said that employees of other departments, who will be deployed at procurement centres, will be given training so that they are well acquainted with the procurement process.

To avoid crowding, the state government has increased the wheat procurement centres nearly four-fold to 2,000.

He said that one day before the procurement date, the concerned officers will visit their respective centres and take stock of availability of sanitizers, masks, among others, to fight coronavirus.

One supervisory officer will be stationed at every procurement centre who will give updates on the amount of wheat procured, he added.