The farmers in Rajasthan have demanded procurement of full quantities of agricultural produce on minimum support prices (MSP) in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic to resolve the agrarian distress caused by crop losses and debt burden. Farmers expect a hand-holding support from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and other State agencies for getting remunerative prices.
The FCI has since accepted one of the demands for extension of date for wheat procurement to July 7. The Hadoti Kisan Union has sought procurement of full quantity of wheat, at the rate of ₹1,925 per quintal, brought to the purchase centres.
Hadoti Kisan Union general secretary Dashrath Kumar said on Monday that while about 6 lakh tonnes of wheat was purchased at the procurement centres in Kota division, the farmers were forced to sell 4 lakh tonnes in the local mandis at lower prices. This had led to a loss ranging between ₹80 crore and ₹100 crore to the farmers, he said.
Lockdown effect
Though the procurement had started on April 15, very few farmers could reach the purchase centres because of the COVID-19 lockdown. Mr. Kumar said the FCI should speed up procurement at its 150 centres in Kota division and purchase the remaining quantity of wheat through a campaign.
The farmers led by Kisan Mahapanchayat president Rampal Jat launched a march to Delhi from Dudu in Jaipur district on Sunday to protest against the stoppage of procurement of chickpeas on MSP. The procession of 160 tractor trolleys carrying the sacks of chickpeas was stopped by the administration at Mahla, 30 km from Jaipur.
Mr. Jat said the farmers had requested the Rajasthan Cooperative Marketing Federation to start the procurement at the earliest and warned that they would march to Delhi to submit a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi if their demand was not met. A fresh round of talks between Kisan Mahapanchayat and the State government is expected shortly.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had last month asked the Centre to increase the limit of MSP procurement from 25% of the agricultural produce to at least 50% under the Price Stabilisation Scheme in view of hardships being faced by farmers due to the pandemic.
