Bhopal, Sep 10 (IANS): Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday said the government would procure Soybean at the Minimum Support Price (MSP), which is Rs 4,894 per quintal.

Union Agriculture Minister Chouhan said the Modi Government is committed to providing all help to the farmers and several schemes have been introduced in the last few years.

Speaking about the procurement of soybean in Madhya Pradesh, Chouhan said the Centre was ready to help if the state government needed it.

Chouhan said that the state governments in Maharashtra and Karnataka have requested for the Price Support Scheme (PSS) for procurement of Soyabean and the Centre had given its nod.

“If the Madhya Pradesh government demands, we would allow the PSS scheme here too. We are in touch with the Madhya Pradesh government, and there is some delay in the Soyabean crop getting ready for sale,” Chouhan said, talking to reporters in Bhopal on Tuesday.

The PSS is a Union government program that aims to protect farmers from economic losses by procuring crops at the MSP when prices fall below that level.

The PSS applies to notified pulses, oilseeds, and copra.

The minister’s assurance that the Centre would allow the Madhya Pradesh government to procure Soyabean crop under the PSS scheme could be a big relief for the farmers of the state.

Also, Chouhan’s statement came at a time when the Opposition Congress is pushing for the price of Soybean crop to be increased to around Rs 6,000 per quintal.

Notably, Madhya Pradesh has recently occupied the top position with Soybean production of 5.47 million tonnes.

Its contribution to the total Soybean production of the country is 41.92 per cent.

Data suggest that the area under Soybean production in Madhya Pradesh increased by 1.7 per cent in 2023-24 as compared to 2022-23, which has resulted in an increase in its production as well.