Even though Haryana farmers have begun harvesting in some areas, the state government has ordered field-level verification for nearly 23.98 lakh acres of non-basmati paddy registered on the Meri Fasal Mera Byora (MFMB) portal over concerns of overstated acreage.
He added that the procurement of some early varieties of basmati is already underway in several mandis. 3.85 lakh farmers have registered across 23.98 lakh acres of non-basmati paddy, according to the MFMB data provided for the current kharif season. In comparison, two lakh farmers have registered for around 10 lakh acres of basmati varieties. However, farmer leaders were demanding the government to open registration on the MFMB portal claiming that the registered area under non-basmati paddy was around 4.8 lakh acres, less than last year’s 28.8 lakh acres. “Around 19.35 lakh acres have been verified under parmal so far and verification of around 4.64 lakh acres is yet to be done. However, some officials associated with the procurement said if the area under parmal rice remained unchanged after the verification, paddy procurement in the state may increase beyond 60 lakh MT. Agriculture and farmers’ welfare minister Shyam Singh Rana said that even though the central government has revised the target to 59.50LMT, the state government remains committed to purchasing every grain brought by farmers, even if arrivals exceed the target. The procurement in Haryana is to begin from October 1, according to the schedule. However, the state government has requested the Centre to prepone the procurement to September 20 amid early arrivals and farmers’ requests.
The verification was ordered amid the concerns that a majority of farmers growing basmati varieties could have registered their crop as parmal to become eligible for government procurement at the minimum support price (MSP), which may lead to bogus procurement, according to the reports. Now the department is taking the help of the concerned deputy commissioner, SDM and tehsildar to complete this process as early as possible”, said an official from the state agriculture department pleading anonymity. Dharmendra Singh, chief administrator of the Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board, said that all arrangements for the procurement season have been completed.
