In the midst of bumper crop estimates for groundnut, the State Government of Gujarat will start the procurement of the crop from Labh Panchami i.e. the 5th day after Diwali festival (1st November).
Vijay Rupani, Chief Minister of Gujarat announced that the State Government will not let growers suffer because of falling prices of oilseed as a result of the bumper crop. Rupani while addressing an election rally said that, “We will start groundnut procurement at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) from Labh Panchami or 1st November”.
According to latest government estimates, the groundnut production in Gujarat is estimated at 32 lakh tonnes, which is nearly double than last year. Market rates have already slipped to Rs. 4,000 and traded in the range of Rs. 4,000 to 4,100 per quintal in the State.
The Central Government has increased the minimum support price for the kharif procurement at Rs. 5,090 per quintal as against Rs. 4,890 a quintal in 2018.
Until now, around 4.44 lakh farmers have registered to take part in the procurement process that will end on 30th January 2020. The State civil supplies corporation will be conducting procurement operations from 122 procurement centres across Gujarat.
According to the initial estimates by Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA), groundnut crop in the State will be more than double than what was seen last year, primarily on a good monsoon this year.
The groundnut crop in Gujarat is estimated to be around 32.15 lakh tonnes in 2019-20, which is up by 101% from 15.95 lakh tonnes reported previous year. In 2018, the Gujarat government had paid a bonus of Rs. 110 a quintal on an MSP of Rs. 4,890 a quintal announced by the Central government. The Nafed data said that the State government had procured around 447,000 tonnes of groundnut from the growers in Gujarat.
Gujarat will also open new procurement centres to make it transparent as well as hassle-free for cultivators during the procurement process.
