Haryana to procure sunflower seeds at MSP

Haryana government will procure sunflower seeds at Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 3,950 per quintal during the current procurement season.
This was disclosed at a meeting held here today under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary, D S Dhesi regarding procurement of sunflower in 2017-18, as per an official release.
Sunflower crop is grown mainly in Kurukshetra, Ambala, Panchkula and Yamunanagar districts.
The Central government had fixed the MSP of Rs 3,950 per quintal for 2017-18, and had made National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) the central nodal agency for procurement of sunflower.
The Haryana government has authorised Haryana State Co-operative Supply and Marketing Federation Limited (HAFED) for procurement of sunflower.

HAFED has been carrying out procurement of sunflower for the last two years.

In 2014-15, the produce was 32,100 tonnes, in 2015-16 14,800 tonnes and 12,500 tonnes in 2016-17.
The Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Department had notified the harvesting period of sunflower from June 1 to June 15 and HAFED would continue its procurement till July 31.
The guidelines for the procurement of oilseeds and pulses under the Price Support Scheme were issued by the Union Ministry of Agriculture.