Mustard growers in a fix as prices drop below MSP
Farmers are worried over this situation. Congress MLA from Sangod in Kota district and former minister Bharat Singh Kundanpur have written a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who represents Kota-Bundi Lok Sabha seat in Rajasthan, seeking his intervention and demanding that government procurement be started soon in the state. He has also sent a copy of this letter to Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar
Avishek Raja
Mustard cultivators are in a fix. Government procurement has not started in most of the major mustard producing states, except Gujarat, while the arrival of the new crop has increased in the mandis. Right now only private traders and big oil mills are buying mustard in major mandis.
Due to increase in arrival, the price of new mustard is below the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 5,450 per quintal for current rabi marketing season. The average price of common mustard is presently around Rs 4,800-5,200 per quintal in most mandis. Apart from this, the huge increase in the import of edible oils is also affecting the prices of mustard.
Farmers are worried over this situation. Congress MLA from Sangod in Kota district and former minister Bharat Singh Kundanpur have written a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who represents Kota-Bundi Lok Sabha seat in Rajasthan, seeking his intervention and demanding that government procurement be started soon in the state. He has also sent a copy of this letter to Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.
Sources told Rural Voice that the minimum price of new mustard in Lalsot mandi of Dausa district of Rajasthan is around Rs 4,600 and the maximum price is around Rs 5,300 per quintal, while the average price is Rs 5,200 per quintal.
At the same time, the minimum price in Kota Mandi has come down to Rs 4,300. The maximum price is around Rs 5,100 and the average price is around Rs 4,500 per quintal.
In Rajasthan's Kota, Bundi, Baran and Jhalawar, the government procurement of mustard on MSP starts from March 15, but this time it is getting delayed. It will start from April 1 in the state. Madhya Pradesh governments will start procurement from April 1, while Haryana will do so from March 28.
Even before the commencement of government procurement, private traders are trying to buy more and more mustard.
The government procures mustard under Price Support Scheme through NAFED. Under this arrangement, the central and state governments contribute equally.
First weather and now low prices, a double whammy for farmers
The Sangod MLA has also confirmed that the average price of mustard in Kota Mandi has come down to Rs 4,500 per quintal.
Rural Voice has seen a copy of his letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker, in which he has written that mustard crop has already been damaged due to bad weather. Now the farmers are facing double loss due to low price of mustard in the market.
On one hand, the government is not procuring mustard at the minimum support price, while on the other hand it has allowed a record 91.7 lakh tonnes of palm oil import. Due to this the farmers have to bear the loss.
NAFED starts procurement in Gujarat
In view of the prices ruling lower than the MSP in the mandis, the Central Government has instructed the states to start government procurement on MSP ahead of normal schedule.
It has started mustard procurement in Gujarat on MSP from March 10. Nafed has informed about this through a tweet. In the years 2020-21 and 2021-22, mustard farmers got a much higher price than the MSP around Rs 6,000- Rs 8,000 per quintal.
The MSP of mustard was Rs 5,050 per quintal in 2021-22, which the central government has increased by Rs 400 to Rs 5,450 per quintal for current rabi marketing season (2022-23).
Seeing such a huge increase in MSP, the farmers were excited and they have sown it in record area this year.
According to government data, mustard has been sown in a record area of 98.02 lakh hectares in the Rabi season 2022-23. This is 6.77 lakh hectares more than in 2021-22.
Rajasthan ranks first in terms of mustard production and sowing area. Madhya Pradesh stands, Uttar Pradesh third and Haryana fourth.
Farmers are not getting the benefit of MSP
Due to increase in support price, the sowing area has reached a record level, but due to the exemption in import duty, the import of edible oils is increasing continuously.
Because of this, farmers are not getting the benefit of the increase in MSP and they are facing losses.
A record 16.61 lakh tonnes of edible oils were imported in January 2023 due to falling international prices. This is 31 per cent more than January 2022 and the highest after September 2021.
India imports about 65 per cent of its edible oil requirement.
