The state agriculture department is working on a plan to fix minimum support price (MSP) for vegetables, similar to paddy, agriculture minister Badal Patralekh said on Sunday, adding that the move was aimed at providing a fair marketplace for farmers.
The minister said he had formed a committee under the aegis of agriculture secretary Abu Bakr Siddique to work out detailed modalities of an MSP for vegetables to ensure that those who grew vegetables did not have to sell their produce at throwaway prices.
Badal said he was trying to finalise a plan within the next three months.
“We wanted to introduce MSP for vegetables from this year but the plan got delayed due to the Covid-19 induced lockdown because of which neither I or my officials could visit some of the progressive states to find out how it was done there.”
Asked about specific vegetables that would be covered under the MSP plan, he said that it would be decided by the committee. “We will fix for as many varieties of vegetables as possible. Jharkhand grows peas, tomatoes, gourd, French beans, cauliflower, cabbage in sufficient quantities,” he said.
Jharkhand is a vegetable surplus state, producing over 30 lakh metric tonne annually, as per the department’s data. For the first time in August, the agriculture department, through the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC), tied up with a private agency - All Seasons Farm Fresh, to export over a tonne of vegetables for Dubai after procuring directly from the farmers. They consignment included 300kg bitter gourd, 50kg ladies finger, 150kg bottle gourd, 50kg French beans, 100 kg coccinia grandis (kundru), among others.
On farm-loan waivers, among the major poll promises of the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance government, Badal said verification of bank accounts was on. As many as 8 lakh farmers have been identified for the loan waiver scheme. They will be covered in phased manner.
“After the government sanctioned Rs 2000 crore for the scheme, we told banks and the agriculture department to jointly verify account details of all projected beneficiary farmers by seeding UID numbers with bank accounts to prevent duplicity. This exercise is expected to be over by this month,” he said.
As for paddy, chief minister Hemant Soren has agreed to the agriculture department proposal to fix Rs 1,868 per quintal as the minimum support price for procurement of paddy this year along with an additional bonus of Rs 182 per quintal. For grade-A quality paddy, Rs 1,888 per quintal will be provided. Now, the proposal will be placed before the cabinet for a formal nod.
