Soya Barcodes To Help Farmers Avoid Middlemen, Trace Produce

Adilabad: Nafed officials are using a barcode system for purchased soya to prevent irregularities, ensure quality, and trace the produce back to the farmer. A unique barcode containing each farmer’s details is generated, and farmers must place the barcode slip on top of each 50 kg gunny bag before packing it.

The Central government is offering an MSP of Rs 5,328 per quintal of soya. Nafed will procure soya, jowar and red gram from farmers through Markfed in the state.

The move follows reports that middlemen were buying soya at low prices and selling it to Nafed at MSP. There have also been instances of farmers from Maharashtra selling their soya at the Adilabad market yard by presenting Telangana pattadar passbooks.

At procurement centres, farmers must provide details of their land, pattadar passbook, Aadhaar card and yield information to Nafed officials before selling their produce.

Farmer Sheeram Shetti of Arli village said Nafed introduced the barcode system to curb irregularities in the purchase of soya and red gram, adding that the Central government insists on strict quality checks. He noted that Nafed had returned some bags after detecting poor-quality soya, unlike state agencies which he said were more liberal with quality norms.

Farmer Ramesh Reddy of Pochera in Tamsi mandal said many farmers are relieved that the mandatory fingerprint verification for selling soya has been scrapped, as elderly farmers earlier had to visit market yards solely for biometric authentication. Earlier, farmers stood in long queues to collect tokens before selling their crops, including soya.