Big support for MSP paddy procurement in Haryana by NCDC: Rs 6836 crore sanctioned

New Delhi

The National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), an apex financing institution under the newly created Union Ministry of Cooperation, has sanctioned Rs 6836.48 crore to Haryana for paddy procurement under the Minimum Support Price (MSP) operations for Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2021-22. This was stated in an NCDC press release.

An amount of Rs 1,000 crore has already been disbursed in two tranches and the balance will be disbursed shortly, said NCDC Managing Director Sundeep Nayak here.

This is for the first time, since its creation a few months ago, that the Union Ministry of Cooperation has moved in to support farmers for foodgrain procurement under MSP operation via its financial behemoth, the NCDC. The timely step also aims to give relief to farmers already under stress due to the Covid-19 pandemic. NCDC aims to realize the vision of Amit Shah, Union Home and Cooperation Minister, articulated in the National Cooperative Conference held on 25 September 2021.

Haryana has already started procurement of paddy at MSP from October 3.  

“This timely step will ensure help to the State agencies to start paddy procurement operations through cooperatives immediately and will provide the much-needed support to farmers, particularly during Covid-19 times, to sell their produce at the government-notified Minimum Support Price”, said DK Singh, Secretary, Cooperation, Govt of India.

In other words, cooperatives will use these short-term loans to procure food grains from farmers on behalf of State procurement agencies for making instant payments to farmers so that they do not have to wait for their dues.

A premier ISO 9001: 2015 certified financial institution exclusively for cooperatives, NCDC has been playing a very crucial role in supporting MSP operations in the country and, as on date, it has cumulatively disbursed Rs 98,071 crore to undertake MSP operations throughout the country and Rs 20,844 crore to Haryana alone.

Apart from this, the focus of the Corporation, which has a pan-India presence with 18 regional offices, is on planning, promoting and financing programmes of agricultural inputs, processing, storage and marketing of agriculture produce, capacity building and supply of consumer goods in rural areas to realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Sahakar Se Samridhi (Prosperity Through Cooperation)’.