Relief To Farmers as HAFED Starts Mustard Seed Procurement

The Haryana State Co-operative Supply and Marketing Federation Limited (HAFED) has started with the procurement of oil seeds, as a relief to the mustard farmers who had started with the sale of their produce. There were around 110 quintals of stock with the government agency at the Ladwa grain market- which is the purchase center for Kurukshetra.

The HAFED issued a directive to the district managers on Monday, stating that in order to ensure stabilization of the market and farmer interest, HAFED will begin the commercial procurement of mustard seeds. This will conform to the fair average quality specifications of the government at Rs. 5,450/ quintal, coming into effect from March 14th.

According to a trader, "With the government agency entering the market, an uptick of approximately Rs. 200-300 per quintal is being witnessed in the rates being provided there, but it is difficult to see any substantial uptrend in the price of mustard due to lukewarm demand and decreasing oil costs. For black mustard and yellow mustard, the farmers are getting paid between Rs. 4,800 and 5,100 per quintal.”

Kurukshetra's Hafed District Manager Shamsher Singh stated: "The agency has obtained 110 quintal stock in accordance with the government standards. The agency has begun commercial procurement today, and it will continue through March 20 when price support system procurement will begin.”

For the acquisition of goods for the rabi marketing season 2023–2024, the administration has designated 92-grain markets as buying centres around the state. To help farmers, the farmer unions have requested that the number of buying centres is increased.

According to BKU (SBS) President Amarjeet Singh, only two-grain markets—in Ambala and Kurukshetra—have been designated as buying centers. This means that farmers must use more gasoline to sell their goods. Government should build more centers.

According to Rakesh Bains, a spokeswoman for BKU (Charuni), "If the government wants to help the farmers adopt crop diversification and push them to grow their oilseed areas, it has to help farmers by offering procurement facilities at all grain markets. As a significant amount was already sold before the procurement agency entered the market, the government should expedite the procurement process going forward.”