New Delhi (PTI): Cooperative Nafed will start procurement of kharif onion in Gujarat from Thursday from three mandis to provide relief to farmers, as prices have crashed in the wholesale markets, according to the Food and Consumer Affairs Ministry.

Nafed will begin onion procurement from Bhavnagar, Gondal and Porbandar mandis in Gujarat from March 9.

More centres will be opened from time to time as required, it said.

"Farmers are requested to bring their good quality and dried stock to the procurement centres to avail better rates at these centres," the ministry said.

Payments to the farmers will be done online, it added.

The ministry said the central government has planned this market intervention in order to give immediate relief to the farmers from crashing prices of onions in the state.

Nafed will procure kharif onion to address the issue of falling prices of onion in Gujarat and this move will provide stability to the onion market in the state, it added.

Onion is grown in all the states, however, Maharashtra is the leading producer with a share of around 43 per cent, Madhya Pradesh 16 per cent, Karnataka and Gujarat contributing around 9 per cent of national production.

The crop is harvested thrice a year during Kharif, Late Kharif and Rabi seasons.

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New Delhi, Nov 21: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday launched the Karnataka Milk Federation's (KMF) Nandini brand milk products in the Delhi-NCR market, pricing them marginally lower than competitors to gain a foothold in the region.

The cooperative will retail four cow milk variants, curd, and buttermilk from Friday, with competitive pricing that undercuts established players like Mother Dairy and Amul.

Cow milk will be sold at Rs 56 per litre, full Cream Milk at Rs 67 per litre, Standardised Milk at Rs 61 per litre, Toned Milk at Rs 55 per litre, and curd at Rs 74 per kg.

"We have surplus milk in the state. KMF along with Mandya Milk Union will market surplus milk of 3-4 lakh litres per day in Delhi-NCR," Siddaramaiah told reporters after launching the products.

The federation currently collects 100 lakh litres of milk daily, with local consumption at 60 lakh litres, leaving a surplus of 40 lakh litres for expansion into new markets.

However, the Chief Minister acknowledged the challenges of transporting milk over 2,500 km, which takes 50-54 hours.

There is a need to find new markets for surplus milk and gradually the KMF should be able to sell 5-6 lakh litres per day in Delhi-NCR, he added.

KMF Chairman LBP Bheemanaik assured that milk quality would be maintained during transit.

The federation has already partnered with 40 dealers in the Delhi-NCR region to facilitate sales, he added.

With a robust infrastructure of 26.76 lakh milk producers, 15,737 dairy cooperative societies, and 15 district milk unions, KMF has a turnover of Rs 25,000 crore and exports dairy products to over 25 countries.

State Animal Husbandry Minister K Venkatesh and Agriculture Minister N Cheluvarayaswamy were present at the product launch.