Centre Approves Procurement of Sunflower, Green Gram, Soybean in Karnataka
Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy said the approvals would provide support to farmers through procurement at the Minimum Support Price (MSP).
Bengaluru: The Union Government has approved procurement of 13,413 MT of sunflower, 38,250 MT of green gram (moong) and 1,15,500 MT of soybean in Karnataka under the PSS for the Kharif 2026-27 season, Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy said on Wednesday.
He said the approvals would provide support to farmers through procurement at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
"These approvals will provide important support to farmers through MSP procurement," Kumaraswamy said in a post on 'X'.
The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, in three separate letters dated September 29, approved the Price Support Scheme (PSS) procurement of the three crops in Karnataka.
The approvals followed requests from the Karnataka government, with the letters citing state government communications dated August 11 for sunflower and moong and August 17 for soybean.
The procurement will be for 90 days from the date of commencement, which will be decided by the state government.
The Central Nodal Agencies have been asked to intimate the Centre about the commencement date.
The agencies have also been directed to verify the availability of scientific storage space before procurement and restrict procurement to the quantity for which storage is confirmed.
The Centre said procurement should be carried out through Aadhaar-based biometric or face authentication of registered farmers and only Fair Average Quality (FAQ) produce should be procured. Procurement is to take place when market prices are below the MSP.
The state government has been asked to provide a revolving fund equivalent to at least 15 per cent of the procurement cost of the sanctioned quantity and ensure direct payment into farmers' bank accounts within three days of procurement.
It has also been asked to exempt the entire PSS operation from mandi taxes or cess and support the establishment of direct procurement centres by the Central Nodal Agencies.
The Centre further directed the agencies and the state government to capture SC/ST beneficiary data under the PSS to facilitate utilisation of funds earmarked under the relevant head of PM-AASHA.