Farmers ‘forced’ to sell maize, moong below MSP

Manmeet Singh Gill

Amritsar, June 29

Moong and maize cultivators are a disheartened lot as they are getting a raw deal this season too. They are allegedly forced to sell their produce at a price lower than the minimum support price (MSP) announced by the government.

Though the government had announced the MSP of Rs 8,558 per quintal (100 kilo) for moong (green legume), the maximum price farmers have got so far is Rs 6,600 per quintal. Farmers stated that only a handful of farmers had got this price while the majority of them had to sell the green pulse below Rs 6,000 per quintal.

For maize, the government had fixed the MSP at Rs 2,090 per quintal. In the Bhagtanwala grain market, it has been sold at prices ranging from Rs 1,560 to Rs 1,700 per quintal. The lowest price of maize crop has been reported from the Gehri grain market where the maximum maize produce has arrived so far.

In the Gehri market, the maize crop has been purchased by private players at prices ranging between Rs 1,780 and Rs 1,110 per quintal. The district has reported a total arrival of 1,02,191 quintals of maize out of which nearly 80,000 had arrived at the Gehri grain market.

Though the state government had assured the cultivators of moong last year that their produce would be purchased at the MSP, the government has failed to help farmers get the MSP.

Agriculture Department officials stated that though the area under moong had decreased this year, but still a large number of farmers continued to grow it. Farmers complain that as they cultivate maize and moong in the time period left in-between harvesting of wheat and sowing of paddy, a fair price for these crops could help them increase their income.

“Despite tall claims, the government has never helped farmers get the MSP for crops other than wheat and paddy though the MSP for many crops is announced every year,” said Harbhajan Singh, a maize cultivator.