PANAJI
Ahead of the upcoming cashew harvest season, the Agriculture Department has notified the minimum support price for nuts by over 13 per cent from Rs 150 per kilogram to Rs 170.
Additionally, in the notification issued by Agriculture Director Sandeep Fol Desai, who is also ex-officio joint secretary, the benefit of this support price can be availed by cashew growers for up to 4,000 kilograms harvested in an area of up to 10 hectares.
Earlier, individual cashew growers were permitted to avail the minimum support price scheme for only 2,000 kilograms of nuts harvest from up to 5 hectares.
The notification partly modifies the State government's 'Assured Price for Agriculture Produce' scheme and also includes a proviso which stipulates that the difference in price for what the nuts are actually sold and the assured minimum price of Rs 170 per kilo shall be Rs 50 per kilogram. So even if a cashew grower sells at under Rs 120 per kilo, he or she will only be entitled to Rs 50 per kilo from the government and not the actual difference from the Rs 170 per kilo rate.
Support price for coconut, meanwhile has been left untouched in the notification at Rs six per nut but the maximum gross MSP subsidy a coconut grower can claim per annum has been nearly tripled to Rs 9 lakh from the earlier Rs 3.5 lakh.
Also, coconut growers can now avail the benefits of this scheme for up to one lakh nuts in cultivations covering up to 10 hectares and having 1600 coconut trees. Earlier, this limit was 50,000 nuts from 5 hectares having a maximum of 800 coconut trees.
