NEW DELHI: Responding to ground reports on difficulties being faced by farmers, the Centre on Thursday issued multiple orders to ease procurement of farm produce, including perishable horticultural commodities, and asked states to issue authorisation letters to companies or organisations with nationwide supply chain for smooth movement of essential goods.The move will allow such companies or organisations to be issued regional passes for easy movement of critical staff and workers to maintain the national supply chain and help both farmers and consumers during the lockdown.The orders followed consultations with state agriculture ministers in a meeting chaired by Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar , through video conferencing on Wednesday.The agriculture ministry has decided to hold Kharif National Conference on April 16 (through video conferencing) to firm up the field preparations for upcoming summer sowing season.The ministry issued other orders to Nafed , FCI and Small Farmers Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC) for procurement of pulses and oilseeds as decided by respective states. These agencies were asked to complete procurement within 90 days from the date of commencement of procurement.They were also asked to enhance daily procurement limit per farmer per day from 25 quintal to 40 quintal by relaxing the existing norms under price support scheme (PSS).Besides, all states were asked for implementation of the market intervention scheme (MIS) for procuring perishable horticulture crops. Under the MIS, procurement is done for perishable horticultural produce, including potato, to protect growers from distress sale.