Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday urged Central government to extend the deadline of ongoing onion procurement to July 15 owing to bumper production in the state.
He also asked for increase in the procurement quantity from current two lakh tonnes to eight lakh tonnes through Market Intervention Scheme (MIS), as per a release.
Chouhan met Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh here and apprised him of bumper onion crop in the state, which may go up to 32 lakh tonnes this year.
He said the drop in prices due to bumper production was a matter of concern so he was requesting the deadline be extended from the current June 30 to July 15 to facilitate farmers to sell their produce and get fair price.
A few days ago, the central government decided to procure two lakh tonnes from Madhya Pradesh, which produce about 26 - 28 lakh tonnes annually.
Chouhan also asked for procurement of moong (green gram) and urad (black gram) through Price Stabilisation Fund by intervening in the market due to their production.