MSP on mustard mere 'eyewash'

Manmeet Singh Gill

Amritsar, May 19

Even as the government has fixed a minimum support price of Rs 5,450 per quintal for mustard, farmers, who were encouraged by the high price last year and had increased the area under the crop, are forced to sell it for Rs 4,000-Rs 4,500 per quintal.

The crop fetched as high as Rs 7,500 last year. Until last year, the crop was cultivated on a small area. Mandeep Singh, a farmer from Shukarchak village, had sown mustard on four acres. “Now, it is lying in my house as I am waiting for the price to go up.”

Like Mandeep, Lakhbir Singh of Nwa Pind village too has stored the crop at his home as he stated that private buyers are offering only Rs 4,500 per quintal.

The farmers rued that even though the government had announced the MSP for different crops, it was seldom given on crops other than wheat and parmal varieties of rice. They said that last year, they did not get the MSP on moong and corn. MSPs on some crops were just eyewash.

Farmer leader Rattan Singh Randhawa said, “The major reason for agriculture becoming a loss-making venture is that the farmers do not get good prices for their crops.”

He said farm unions had repeatedly demanded that more crops should be brought under the ambit of the MSP system. He added that ensuring MSP for all crops can help achieve the target of diversification.

Chief Agriculture Officer Jatinder Singh Gill admitted that the area under mustard had started increasing significantly for the last two seasons as the farmers had hoped that the upward trend would continue. He said private buyers purchased mustard at only three markets — Bhagatawala, Gehri Mandi and Rayya.

District Mandi Officer Amandeep Singh also said no government agency procured the mustard crop and private buyers fixed the price of the crop on various quality parameters.

No ‘mandate’ for govt agencies

• The Centre had announced MSP for 22 crops for 2022-23
• Unlike wheat and parmal varieties of rice, procurement agencies are rarely ‘mandated’ to procure other crops
• The only exception is the procurement of moong by government agencies last year
• Farmers had complained that they had got less rate than MSP
• The Centre issues a cash-credit limit for procurement of wheat and parmal rice, no such provisions are made for other crops
• The MSP for all crops and the legal guarantee have been a major demand of farm unions