Haryana agriculture minister Jai Prakash Dalal on Wednesday said the assured difference amount between minimum support price (MSP) and purchase price will be paid to sunflower cultivators on the lines of release of ₹29 crore as an interim payment (bharpai) to 8,528 sunflower growers on June 10.
Lifting the haze surrounding the likely mechanism the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP-JJP coalition government will adopt to fulfil the promise made to agitating farmers, Dalal said the government is committed to pay “whatever will be the difference” between the MSP ( ₹6,400) and purchase price of sunflower seed by different buyers. Hafed, which is the apex cooperataive federation of Haryana has been procurisng sunflower seeds, apart from private players.
The farmers had blocked the Delhi-Chandigarh highway in Kurukshetra for over 30 hours and lifted the blockade on Tuesday night after the government accepted their key demands.
Two days before the farmers were slated to begin the agitation, the state government on June 10 released ₹29.13 crore as an interim payment (bharpai). The money was transferred to bank accounts of verified 8,528 sunflower farmers for the oilseed crop sown in 36,414 acre.
The farmers register themselves on Meri Fasal Mera Byora (MFMB) portal on the basis of which field verification of crops sown is done and money is transferred to the bank accounts of the verified beneficiary.
{{/usCountry}}The farmers register themselves on Meri Fasal Mera Byora (MFMB) portal on the basis of which field verification of crops sown is done and money is transferred to the bank accounts of the verified beneficiary.
{{/usCountry}}“Let me assure the sunflower growers again that we are committed to fulfil the assurance we have given to them. Before making the payments, we will follow the procedure adopted earlier when we released over ₹29 crore (@ ₹1,000 per quintal) interim payment to thousands of farmers. A decision in this regard was taken earlier on the file,” said Dalal, while speaking to HT over telephone.
“Hafed is already purchasing sunflower seeds at ₹4,800/ ₹4,900 per quintal. Actual reasons behind this politically-motivated agitation were different.”
According to the minister, some vested interests, including “a section of farmer leaders of others states”, were misleading Haryana farmers despite the state government making it clear that farmers will be paid the price difference of sunflower seed.
“They want to anyhow revive farmers’ agitation. There is no logic behind blocking highways...Punjab is procuring sunflower seeds at ₹4,000-4,200 per quintal, but no one is raising a hue and cry. Haryana is already paying more than other states...,” he said.
As per official data, in 2021-22, Hafed had procured 3.75 lakh quintal sunflower seeds, while in 2023, pest attack had affected the production and Hafed procured near 2 lakh quintal on MSP.
Over 70% sunflower is grown in Shahbad and Ismailabad blocks of Kurukshetra, which was the epicentre of the latest agitation of farmers. It is estimated that about 37,000- acre land was under sunflower cultivation this time.
The agriculture department officials say initially, online registration for sunflower was done for 40,000 acres and that near 17,000 acre were added to it when the web portal was opened again on farmers’ demand. After verification, over 9,000 acres were removed from the database and verification of 6,000 acres was in an advanced stage.
Dalal said the state government had announced the interim bharpai ( ₹1,000/per quintal) as the market rates keep fluctuating. He said government will pay farmers even if the price difference is more than ₹1,000 per quintal.
“Keeping in view the challenges that farmers face, the state government has decided to set up an oil factory in Kurukshetra having 20,000 metric tonnes capacity,” said Dalal, urging Haryana farmers “not to play” into the hands of self-styled farmer leaders.