NEW DELHI: Union home and cooperation minister Amit Shah on Tuesday directed National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (Nafed) and National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation (NCCF) to procure “every single grain” of pulses and oilseeds directly from farmers “with complete transparency, eliminating the entire network of middlemen,” and ensure that the income reaches the farmers’ bank accounts directly within 48 hours.Speaking at the launch of four Nafed initiatives, including a digital auctioning platform, Shah also set a two-year deadline, saying it will be ensured that all farmers are able to sell pulses directly to these two organisations within the next two years and receive payment directly into their bank accounts.“This will ensure fair and remunerative prices for farmers, automatically increase the area under pulse cultivation, and make the country self-reliant in pulses,” said the minister.Nafed on the occasion launched four major initiatives, including its auction portal ‘NAFEX.in’ to ensure enhanced transparency, efficiency and ease of operations in the auction process. The other three include Nafed-KALYAN scholarship for children of farmers, DRISHTI portal for inventory management of pulses and oilseeds, and ERP portal for strengthening enterprise resource planning.Shah said Nafed has decided to earmark 1% of its profits for scholarships for higher education and career development of children from farmer families. “This arrangement will help address the difficulties faced by farmers’ children in pursuing higher education and building their careers,” he said.
