Accepting a proposal of theUttarakhandgovernment, the Centre has permitted the procurement of 9.6 million kg ofmandua(finger millet) in the first list for the crop year 2022-23.
Grown in the hills of Uttarakhand, mandua is a major source of earning for farmers. The minimum support price of mandua is fixed at Rs 3,574 per quintal. Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami termed it a major project, which could prove a “game changer” for the farmers. “We would like to thank the Union Government for accepting the proposal and now it is time our teams worked in coordination to ensure proper procurement of mandua,” he said.
In the first phase, the procurement scheme would be implemented in the mountainous areas of the state on the fixed minimum support price from the farmers of Almora and Pauri districts under the pilot scheme. In the first phase, the purchased mandua would be distributed under the in the districts in the plains — Udham Singh Nagar, Haridwar, Dehradun and Nainital. Around eight lakh families enrolled under the National Food Security Scheme of the above districts would be benefited from the scheme.