Chana dal farmers have lost ₹140 crore in the first two weeks of March due to the fact that market prices are below the declared minimum support price (MSP), according to Jai Kisan Andolan, a group that belongs to the Samyukt Kisan Morcha platform of protesting farm unions.
If the same trend continues without govt intervention, then chana dal farmers will be “looted” of ₹870 crore this year, alleged Jai Kisan Andolan (JKA) founder Yogendra Yadav, addressing a press conference on Thursday.
Using data from the government’s Agmarknet website, which records prices at State-run mandis across the country, the farmers’ group showed that chana dal or Bengal gram has been trading at about ₹400 per quintal below the MSP rate of ₹5,100 per quintal. In Gujarat, the staple pulse was being sold at more than ₹600 below MSP. Multiplying the shortfall with the 32 lakh quintals of dal that arrived in the market in the first half of March, JKA claimed that the total losses to farmers amounted to ₹140 crore so far.
Mr. Yadav said that such data busted the government’s repeated claims that “MSP was, is and will be there”. In reality, farmers had been forced to sell below MSP and face huge losses every year, he added.
Jai Kisan Andolan convenor Avik Saha said the group would calculate the losses farmers for different crops on a daily basis to highlight the falsity of the government’s claims.
For more than three months, farm unions under the Samyukt Kisan Morcha banner have been camped on the outskirts of Delhi, demanding the repeal of three farm reform laws and a legal guarantee that all crops will be sold at MSP prices.
