The Madhya Pradesh government, at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, praised MP Mukhyamantri Krishak Uparjan Sahayta Yojna, a program to provide a budget allocation to enable government agencies such as Food and Civil Supplies Corporation and Markfed to overcome operational losses incurred during the purchase of cereals. farmers.
The announcement comes at a time when the government MP has suffered a cumulative operating loss of nearly Rs 6,000 crore in the purchase of grain, and another Rs 12,000 crore is frozen in unsettled accounts of purchased grain. by the Center.
The MP government buys grain through the Ministry of Food Supply and Consumer Protection, together with MP Markfed. He receives payments for grain purchased from the Center after the stock is lifted. These agencies in turn borrow loans to pay the farmers within 10 days, while their contributions with the Center are paid.
“This program was put in place to ensure that agencies such as MP Markfed break the vicious circle of paying high interest on loans taken to ensure supply and timely payment to farmers,” the minister said. of State Agriculture, Kamal Patel. “If the current setup continues without intervention, these departments with huge debts will not be able to undertake purchases. “
He also said that in the case of many crops and legumes such as moong, the state government purchased about 1 lakh of metric tons against the stipulated supply limit of 95,000 metric tons set by the Center.
This decision was taken to ensure that farmers get a fair price in the market. However, the cost of the increased purchases was borne by the state government through loans. But contributions are only returned to the state government once the stock is pulled from decline.
A senior state official said that in cases where inventory is not taken, refused or discarded, operation and other procurement costs are borne entirely by government agencies.
Until March 2021, the MP government had a debt of Rs 2.5 lakh crore in loans, which exceeded its budget by Rs 2.41 lakh crore. The government currently pays 20,942 crore rupees annually in interest.
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