Hafed procures over 262 mt barley

Chandigarh, Apr 15 (UNI) The Haryana State Cooperative Supply and Marketing Federation (HAFED) has so far purchased as much as 262 metric tonnes of barley from its two purchase centres at Farooq Nagar and Haily Mandi in Gurgaon district.

The purchased has been made under a contract farming scheme which was recently launched by Hafed in collaboration with Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board and SKOL Breweries.

While stating this here today, a spokesman of HAFED said that ''HAFED has kept its promise of ensuring remunerative prices to the farmers, as the barley has been purchased at a rate of more than Rs 1050 per quintal, which is the best price for the barley in the market.'' He said that under the contract farming scheme, barley growers were provided support at every step by the SKOL Breweries by way of better seeds, high quality inputs and technical know how for soil and water testing.

Insurance cover to the willing farmers was also provided by Hafed through National Agriculture Insurance Corporation of India (NAIC) by paying 50 per cent of the total premium, he added.

The spokesman appealed to the farmers to make the scheme of contract farming a big success for their own benefit and bring their entire produce at the purchase centres set up by the HAFED so that they could be ensured maximum price for their produce.

UNI PS JMK RL RN1622