Govt said it has extended its tur procurement operation in Maharashtra and will procure 0.1 million tonne more tur till May31. Maharashtra govt had asked for additional procurement of 0.2 million tonne of the pulse as the state tur output in 2016-17 (Jul-Jun) is estimated at a record high of 2.04 million tonne. The Centre had earlier procured nearly 0.4 million tonne of tur in Maharashtra and ended procurement operation on Apr 22. Despite govt procurement, tur prices in the wholesale markets fell over 20% below the MSP. To check the fall in prices, the Maharashtra government decided to rope in the State Co-operative Marketing Federation Ltd and Vidarbha Co-operative Marketing Federation Ltd to buy additional 100,000 tn of tur brought by farmers on the last day of the govt intervention programme. Overall tur procurement across the country is likely to be at 1.3 million tonne which is nearly 31% of the estimated output of 4.23 million tonne during 2016-17 (Jul-Jun).