Gandhinagar: Gujarat Agriculture minister R C Faldu today rejected the reports that farmers were angry at the groundnut procurement under MSP scheme and said that the state government after detailed study found that the price given under MSP scheme was better than Bhavantar yojana (price-difference based system) implemented in neighboring Madhya Pradesh.

Addressing a press conference here on the day of start of registration for the MSP scheme, Faldu said that had the farmers been angry, 4065 farmers with total sowing area of 4708 hectare would not have registered in just first two hours today.

‘Only the members of the Dalal Mandals of the APMC were seemingly somewhat annoyed and they would also understand our point of view once they sit with us like the chairmen of the APMC’s of the groundnut producing areas,’ he said.

In the Bhavantar Yojana the rate of procurement is calculated on the basis of various factors including the day to day price in the APMCs and that in other two main producer states after which the average of the three becomes the final rate. Under the MSP scheme we are paying Rs 1000 per 20 kg and had it been the Bhavantar yojana it would have been by my reckoning Rs 100 to 250 less than this. The state government had conducted detailed comparative study of the two schemes and chose to go with MSP scheme which looks more beneficial for the farmers, he said.

Notably, the Gujarat government has decided to start the procurement of groundnut for 2018-19 season at Minimum Support Price (MSP) from November 15 at 122 centers across the state.

Faldu said that this time the shortcomings of the MSP purchase of last year have been eliminated and it would be foolproof. ‘We have decided to keep it completely transparent and it would be done under CCTV camera and video cameras,’ he said.

To a query about the scam in procurment involving go-downs, Faldu also said that the procured groundnut would be kept in the closest go-down with all the facilities including CCTV, round the clock security.

‘The Food and Civil Supply Corporation has been the state level agency for the procurement for which NAFED is the center level agency,’ he informed.

DeshGujarat