Centre says MP already given highest moong procurement approval, urges state to speed up purchases

Amid protests by farmers in Bhopal over moong procurement, the Centre has told the Madhya Pradesh government that it has already approved procurement of the state’s entire eligible quantity under the Price Support Scheme (PSS) for the 2025-26 summer season and urged it to expedite purchases to safeguard farmers’ interests.In a letter to Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav, Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the Centre had already approved procurement of up to 454,580 metric tonnes of moong under the PSS, accounting for 87% of the total national approval of 523,243 metric tonnes for all states combined. He said this was the highest allocation granted to any state.Chouhan also pointed out that, as of July 29, Madhya Pradesh had procured only around 60,000 tonnes of moong, despite a higher allocation.“In the larger interest of farmers, the state government is requested to ensure that moong procurement is expedited at the earliest,” the minister said in the letter.The letter came in response to a July 28 communication from Madhya Pradesh Agriculture Minister Aidal Singh Kansana, who had sought an increase in the procurement quantity under the PSS.However, Chouhan clarified that the Centre does not assign procurement “targets” to states. Instead, under the PM-AASHA framework, the Centre approves procurement limits in accordance with the scheme’s guidelines which allows procurement upto 25% of a state’s production for notified pulses, oilseeds, and copra.He said that for the 2025-26 summer moong season, the Centre had approved procurement of 454,580 metric tonnes for Madhya Pradesh, compared with 48,298 metric tonnes for Uttar Pradesh, 18,250 metric tonnes for Gujarat and 2,115 metric tonnes for Haryana.“Any procurement beyond this limit is to be undertaken by the state government, while additional central approval beyond the prescribed ceiling can be considered only under specific conditions and after examination by the Committee of Secretaries,” the minister said in his letter.He said Madhya Pradesh has consistently received the maximum permissible central support under the scheme.According to the letter, the Centre had approved procurement of 275,645 metric tonnes in both 2021-22 and 2022-23, 330,763 metric tonnes in 2023-24, 419,692 metric tonnes in 2024-25 and 454,580 metric tonnes in 2025-26. In each of these years, procurement beyond the approved quantity was undertaken by the state government to ensure farmers’ produce was purchased, he said.