Bajra procurement in Haryana may jump 10-fold

Chandigarh: With the open market price of bajra, or pearl millet, lagging 20-25% below its minimum support price (MSP), government procurement of the cereal in Haryana is likely to jump tenfold over last year.

More than 1.5 lakh tonnes of bajra have already come for government purchase against the Centre’s initial procurement target of 1 lakh tonnes in the current season. Last year, around 31,449 tonnes of the grain were procured at government-set MSP by state agencies.

“Going by the exuberance of farmers, the arrivals are likely to cross 3 lakh tonnes for the season,” said Sanjeev Verma, director of food and supplies, Haryana. The state government is committed to procuring every grain that comes for procurement and the state agencies are equipped to handle the spurt in arrival, he told ET.

Bajra is an important cereal crop in Haryana. The jump in procurement is attributed partly to higher MSP for the current season — the central government has increased the minimum price at which it procures the commodity by Rs 525 to Rs 1,950 per quintal.

“There is hardly any private selling of bajra as the government is paying within three days and the rate is highly lucrative,” an official said.

Bajra has also become a harbinger of direct procurement in Haryana, as farmers are being paid directly through their bank accounts. Under the state’s Bhavantar Bharpayee Yojana scheme, a farmer is required to get registered with the agriculture department’s e-kharid portal, ‘Meri Fasal Mera Byora’, and also submit documents to reveal the size of cultivation and details of bank account, to get the benefit.

The millet is grown mainly by small farmers in semi-arid districts, especially in the southern part of the state where the priced basmati and paddy are difficult to cultivate.

The procurement of bajra is being dealt with by state agencies Hafed and Haryana State Warehousing Corporation. Payments under the Bhavantar scheme are being made by the Haryana agriculture department.

To curb smuggling from other states to Haryana, the government has capped procurement of bajra at 8 quintals per acre. Landownership and identification details are required for growers to sell their produce under the scheme. Also, Haryana has set up police check posts along boarder areas to check smuggling.

Growers who don’t own land fear they may find it tough to get the benefit of the scheme for want of landownership documents.

“Most farmers in the village cultivate bajra on leased land and the scheme is unlikely to provide succour to us,” said Aqlaque Ahmed of Ferozepure Jhirka in district Mewat.

But a state agriculture department official said that wasn’t the case.

“The scheme allows registration of farmers who cultivate on leased land but there are some discrepancies related to misspelling of names and missing digits in some bank accounts,” he said.