National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD) has released an amount of `500 crore to Haryana State Warehousing Corporation (HSWC) for purchase of paddy during ongoing procurement operations being undertaken by notified State Government departments.
This is for the first time NABARD, Haryana regional office has sanctioned and released financial assistance for procurement of food grains to HSWC.
An offical spokesperson said that the loan will help the corporation in reimbursing the eligible amount of paddy purchased from farmers in various mandis / outlets in the entire state in the line with the Government’s resolve to pay the farmers’ dues at the earliest.
In line with its mandate of promoting rural prosperity, NABARD has introduced this separate line of credit for marketing federations / corporations to promote the marketing of agricultural produce and other agricultural activities. NABARD provides credit support for meeting financial requirements towards procurement cost, processing and marketing of agricultural commodities & other activities related to value addition and supply chain management of agriculture commodities including milk, said the spokesperson.
He said that the objective of food grains procurement by Government agencies is to ensure that farmers get remunerative price for their produce and do not have to resort to distress sale and to build up buffer stocks of foodgrains to ensure food grain security. According to NABARD, the State Government has authorised five agencies namely Food & Supplies Department, HAFED, Haryana Agro Industries Corporation (HAIC), Food Corporation of India (FCI) and Haryana State Warehousing Corporation (HSWC) to procure paddy at Minimum Support Price (MSP) during Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2015-16.
HSWC has been allocated 11 per cent share in paddy purchase. Haryana Food & Supplies Department expects arrival of around 36 lakh metric tonne of paddy during the current season (KMS -2015).