North Karnataka farmers turn to MSP as market prices for pulses and soy plunge

For many years, farmers in North Karnataka were not too keen on selling their crop to the government under the Minimum Support Price (MSP) procurement system. But with prices of green gram, black gram and soya plummeting on the market, farmers are lining up to sell their crop for the MSP.

Although the central government has set up MSP procurement centres in the region for the past four years, farmers were not all too enthusiastic to sell their crop there since the market price was always comparable with the MSP. However, the market price for many crops is markedly lower than the MSP this year, prompting farmers to make a beeline for the procurement centres.

Raining woes

The early onset of the monsoon this year resulted in farmers exceeding set targets for sowing. However, unrelenting rain in the region left acres upon acres of green gram fields damaged, denting the crop’s quality. The drop in quality resulted in a proportional fall in the price – farmers were getting only between Rs 3,000 and Rs 5,000 per quintal of green gram. For black gram, the price is hovering around Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000. However, traders appear wary of purchasing pulses since they are not sure about their quality.

At the MSP procurement centres, a quintal of green gram can fetch up to Rs 8,768, while the price for one quintal of black gram is Rs 7,800. Acceding to the farmers’ demands, the centres have extended the deadline for registration and procurement. Farmers now have 80 days to register, as against 60 earlier, and 90 days for procurement, up from 80.

For green gram, 22 MSP procurement centres have been set up in Dharwad, while six have been opened for black gram and ten for soya. Each farmer can sell up to 15 quintals of green and black gram, while the cap is 20 quintals for soya.

Farmers are understandably upset with the cap on the quantity. “We have not received compensation for the crops we have lost to rain. The ceiling on the quantity we can sell is very low. The government should increase the cap, and besides speedy procurement, ensure timely payment,” said Iranna Madivalar, a farmer from Uppinbetageri.

Green gram was sown across 97,406 hectares, as against the target of 84,665 hectares set by the Agriculture Department. However, heavy rain left crops across 78,384 hectares damaged. Black gram was sown across 16,276 hectares – the target was 8,755 hectares – but crops across 10,585 hectares were damaged owing to rain.

However, farmers have reaped a bumper soya harvest. Soya was sown across 41,882 hectares against a target of 34,000 hectares, and farmers are lining up to sell their crop at the MSP procurement centres where they are getting Rs 5,328 per quintal, while the price in the market is only Rs 3,000.

Karnataka State Co-Operative Marketing Federation manager Vinay Patil said that the farmers’ demand to raise the cap on quantity would be relayed to the higher authorities. “They also want low-quality green gram to be accepted,” said Patil.