No more MSP: Haryana farmers irked as sunflower seeds placed under Bhavantar Bharpai scheme

Ahead of the sunflower seed procurement season, the director of Haryana agriculture and farmers’ welfare department has written to the managing director of Haryana State Co-operative Supply and Marketing Federation Limited (Hafed), directing him to ensure that ₹1,000 per quintal be paid to farmers who sell sunflower seed to private players at the authorised grain markets of the state.

Haryana government’s decision to include sunflower seed in the Bhavantar Bharpai Yojana (BBY), as part of which the government pays a fixed compensation against the produce sold below minimum support price (MSP), has irked sunflower growers who are demanding that the decision be withdrawn immediately.

As part of the scheme, government had fixed the compensation to be paid if the produce is sold below MSP, farmers say it doesn’t mitigate their losses. (HT Photo)

Ahead of the sunflower seed procurement season, the director of Haryana agriculture and farmers’ welfare department has written to the managing director of Haryana State Co-operative Supply and Marketing Federation Limited (Hafed), directing him to ensure that ₹1,000 per quintal be paid to farmers who sell sunflower seed to private players at the authorised grain markets of the state.

The farmers, however, said that they will be running into losses due to this move and accused the government of leaving them at the mercy of private players by getting rid of MSP.

In a letter to the director, agriculture, Bharitya Kisan Union (Charuni) president Gurnam Singh Charuni has alleged that the ₹1,000 per quintal assurance to farmers is insufficient as they are being forced to sell their produce at ₹4,000 per quintal against the MSP of ₹6,400 per quintal. He added that the government’s decision will cause them a loss of over ₹1,400 per quintal. He demanded that the government should bear the entire gap instead of fixing the compensation at ₹1,000 per quintal.

Agriculture and farmers’ department director Narhari Bangar said the move is aimed at compensating the gap between the market price and MSP and there will be no procurement of sunflower seeds on MSP. Farmers can sell their produce to private traders, he said.

Arun Kumar Ahuja, general manager, procurement and warehousing division of Hafed, said the letter states that this support under BBY will be given to all registered and verified farmers. But the Nafed and Hafed have sought clarity on this from agriculture department regarding the procurement process.

He said the payment of BBY is released into the bank accounts of registered and verified farmers on the Meri Fasal Mera Bayora portal directly by the agriculture department and this is not the first time, the BBY scheme has been implemented. This scheme has already been implemented for bajra in previous years, he added.