New Delhi: Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday directed National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (Nafed) and National Cooperative Consumers' Federation (NCCF) to procure pulses and oilseeds directly from farmers, cutting out middlemen, as India looks to reduce its dependence on imports of the two commodities.
Speaking at the launch of four Nafed initiatives, including a digital auctioning platform Nafex. in, Shah said output of pulses and oilseeds had risen in recent years but self-sufficiency had remained elusive because minimum support prices were not reaching growers.
