Haryana, Punjab take different routes to ensure social distancing at mandis
Unlike Punjab, Haryana has placed no restriction on the amount of crop it will buy from farmers during a single visit. The reason: The state, which borders Delhi, does not want to encourage more t..han one visit by farmers in order to mitigate infection risk at procurement centres. Haryana has increased the number of procurement centres for wheat by five times over the last season to 1,915, Sanjeev Kaushal, additional chief secretary, agriculture, farmer welfare and cooperation, told Business Standard. It has 163 such centres for mustard and eight for gram (channa).
Punjab, on the other hand, plans to use cotton traders, yards of rice shellers, and vacant panchayat land to increase collection centres to 5,000. It has declared that around 50 quintal will be bought from each farmer at a time, followed by a 72-hour rotation. In both states, each wheat mandi will have 100 farmers coming daily to sell their produce in two shifts. Haryana and Punjab provide nearly 70 per cent foodgrain under the Right to Food.
While procurement of wheat in Punjab will start on Wednesday, it will begin on April 20 in Haryana. On whether private buyers would be encouraged to directly buy from farmers, Kaushal said: “While we welcome the (agro) industry, no buyer has the capacity to buy the amount we procure. Besides, we have the best market network in the country.” The Haryana government is looking to procure 6.2-7 million tonne (MT) of wheat, 700,000-800,000 tonne of mustard, and 41,000 tonne of gram this season. Punjab, on the hand, is expected to procure 13.7 MT of wheat.
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