From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore

Bangalore, Jan 22: Tur Dal or red gram will be procured by the Karnataka Government from Monday at a price of Rs 4,000 per quintal as part of the market intervention scheme to arrest the falling prices to help growers.

Agriculture Minister Umesh Katti said the Centre has fixed the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for red gram at Rs 3200 per quintal and paid incentive of Rs 500 per quintal.

The State government would pay additional Rs. 300 per quintal, which adds up to Rs 4,000 per quintal, he said.

Though tur dal was priced at Rs 7,000 per quintal in the retail market, the farmers have been paid less than Rs 3500 per quintal.

The committee decided to release Rs five crore from the Revolving Fund to procure red gram from farmers.

Procurement centres would purchase red gram from Monday onwards and strict action would be taken against middlemen and officials who purchase the commodity at lesser prices, Katti warned.

The procurement price for `A’ grade paddy has been fixed at Rs 1160 per quintal and Rs 1130 per quintal for `B’ grade, the minister said.

Red gram is grown on 7,52.909 hectares in Gulbarga, Yadgir, Bidar and Bijapur districts and the estimated production was 3,38,959 tonnes in the 2011 kharif season against the production of 5.09 lakh tonnes in 2010 kharif season in the State.

More than 30 per cent of crop was destroyed in Gulbarga and Yadgir districts on account of adverse climatic conditions.

A Cabinet sub-committee on agricultural and horticultural commodities’ prices headed by Katti fixed the prices for red gram, paddy and onion at a meeting held on January 13.

Major red gram producing states such as Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh have seen bad weather conditions and low rainfall during kharif season.

Compared to last year’s record output of three million tonnes, the country is likely to harvest just about 2 million tonnes this year, officials said.

Katti said paddy would be procured in the next 15 days in 11 paddy growing districts. The paddy was grown on 10 lakh hectares in 2010 kharif. A total of 48 procurement centres would be opened.

A sum of Rs. 50 crore would be released from the Revolving Fund to procure the commodity. A total of 190735.19 quintals of paddy has been procured from 1508 farmers by the Food and Civil Supplies Department.

He said 3.79 lakh quintals of onion had been procured at a cost of Rs. 25.54 crore in eight centres from 13,198 farmers. Onion procurement was completed on January 2, 2012.

The onion price has been fixed at Rs 760 and Rs. 560 a quintal for grade ‘A’ and ‘B’ category, respectively. Procured onions would be sold in a month, he said.

Karnataka’s total foodgrains production for 2011-12 is expected to touch 125 lakh tonnes against the target of 130 lakh tonnes.

Deficit Rain Reason for Low Agricultural Output: Katti

Minister for Agriculture Umesh Katti told presspersons here on Saturday that the deficit monsoon rain was one of the major reasons for decline in the output. The State had received 776 mm of rains against normal 804 mm.

The State’s production would have touched 140 lakh tonnes if the rainfall was normal during the kharif season, Mr Katti said.

Kharif coverage, at 69.15lakh hectares, has declined by seven per cent, against the targeted 74.65 lakh hectares in 2011. On account of drought in 99 taluks in 23 districts of the State, crops on 22.56 lakh hectares, 45 per cent of the sown rainfed area, adversely affected. As per the cost of cultivation, the total loss is estimated at Rs. 4,245.84 crore, he said.

Moreover, crops on 12,000 hectares were affected due to excess rainfall during the monsoon. Area covered in the rabi season was 26.94 lakh hectares against the target of 35.55 lakh hectares while summer crops .