The Centre has prepared plans to go for increased buying of pulses in the current Rabi season to ensure that farmers get remunerative prices for their crops and step up cultivation of pulses to reduce dependence on imports.

A senior official confirmed that directions have been issued to Central nodal agencies National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited (NAFED) and National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India Limited (NCCF) to step up buying of Tur, Urad and Masur pulses during the Rabi marketing season through the Price Support Scheme (PSS) and Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF).

The two agencies have pre-registered around 21 lakh farmers from large pulse producing states such as Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Karnataka on their portal for purchase of their crops.

Union Minister of Agriculture, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, had earlier assured the states that the Centre is committed to procure 100 per cent of Tur, Urad and Masur produced by farmers at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) to ensure crop diversification and achieve self-sufficiency in the production of pulses.

Chauhan said the e-Samridhi portal has been launched through NAFED and NCCF for registration of farmers and the government is committed to procure these pulses at MSP from farmers registered on the portal.

He urged the state governments to encourage more and more farmers to register on this portal so that they can avail the facility of assured procurement.

During the 2023-24 Rabi season the Centre had procured 6.41 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of pulses at an MSP value of Rs 4,820 crore, which benefited 2.75 lakh farmers, according to official figures.

The procurement to support the farmers included 2.49 LMT of Masoor, 43,000 MT of Chana and 3.48 LMT of Moong.

Similarly, 12.19 LMT of oilseeds of Rs 6,900 crore of MSP value were procured from 5.29 lakh farmers.

During the start of the Kharif season, market prices of soybean were ruling much below the MSP, leading to great hardship to farmers.

With the intervention of the Centre under the PSS scheme, 5.62 LMT of soybean has been procured at MSP value of Rs. 2,700 crore which has benefited 2.42 lakh farmers.