Gunny bag shortage hits crop procurement, says Rajasthan minister
Rajasthan Cooperative Minister Udaylal Anjana last week said a delay in providing gunny bags to the state cooperative marketing federation (Rajfed) was affecting the procurement of crops like mustard and gram.
About 2.2 million gunny bags are available with Rajfed, but the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) had not given the permission to use these despite requests made by the state. The Rajfed is demanding about 6.3 million gunny bags of mustard and over 5.7 million grams from NAFED. “If we are not provided with gunny bags soon, then I will write to the central Government in this regard,” Anjana said.
The minister said mustard and gram were being procured from April 1 on
support price in the state. Till June 6, 347,000 tonnes of gram and mustard have been procured from over 140,000 farmers.
Anjana said the benefits of Annapurna Yojana would be made available to the beneficiaries soon. The tender has been approved and the process will begin soon.
During the Budget session in February, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had announced the Mukhyamantri Free Annapurna Food Packet Yojana that aims to provide benefits to 100 million families under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).
Under the Rajasthan Free Food Packet Scheme, the state will provide 1 kg of pulses, 1 kg of sugar, 1 kg of salt, and 1 litre of edible oil and spices to each family free of cost per month.
This article has been republished from The Business Standard.