The Gujarat government on Wednesday informed that it will request the Centre to increase the procurement of gram (chana) from the State following an anticipated bumper crop in the growing region.
At a State Cabinet meeting held on Tuesday in Gandhinagar, it was decided to approach the Centre to support additional procurement of chana during the current season.
The Gujarat government's spokesperson and minister, Jitu Vaghani, informed that the State has already started Minimum Support Price (MSP) procurement process for cotton, mustard, castor, chana and other pulses.
“Chana farmers need not worry; the State is making the required arrangements,” the minister said.
Notably, the State government's second advance estimates for 2021-22 projected chana output at around 24.90 lakh tonnes during the 2022 rabi season. This was about 14.37 lakh tonnes in 2020-21, showed the final advance estimates for that year.
The sharp surge in chana output is attributed to the increased yield and significant rise in the acreage for the pulse. The area under chana had gone up to 11.32 lakh hectare in the year under review as against 8.16 lakh hectares recorded in the previous season. The yield, as per the State estimates, is expected to be around 2.49 tonnes per hectare, up from 1.761 tonnes in the previous season.