Financial woes, storage issue force farmers to sell mustard produce to private players

Parveen Arora

Karnal, March 6

Financial burden on farmers and the dearth of storage facilities have forced small farmers to sell their mustard crop to private players below the minimum support price (MSP) before the commencement of government procurement by agencies.

Farmers say most of them have small landholdings, and they cannot afford to hold their produce for a month to sell it on MSP, as they do not have the required storage and space to get their crop dried before storing it.

“I have cultivated mustard crop on 2 acres. I have to sell it at Rs 5,000 per quintal. I cannot wait for the commencement of government procurement, as I have borrowed money from my arhtiya. Selling my produce at the loss of Rs 450 per quintal to a private buyer at least helped me save the interest of a month on the money I have borrowed from the arhtiya on interest,” said Isham Singh, a farmer of the Indri block.

Another farmer Shamsher Singh from the Assandh block said they had to sell their produce after harvesting as they do not have enough space to get it dried and store it for around a month.

Farmers also avoid the registration of crops on the “Meri Fasal Mera Byora” portal, which is mandatory to sell the crop on the MSP as farmers consider it a lengthy process. “We are not aware of the registration of our crop. Without registration, we cannot sell it on the MSP,” said Jatinder Kumar, another farmer.

On delay in procurement, Kailash Bhagat, chairman, Hafed, said the procurement of mustard would start from March 28. The farming community had been demanding the early procurement of mustard. “I will request the Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar to prepone the procurement process to assist the mustard-growing farmers,” said Bhagat.