Mustard selling below MSP in Haryana, farmers cry for help

Parveen Arora/ Deepender Deswal

Karnal/Hisar, March 5

After fetching a good price in the past two years, mustard crop has disappointed farmers this year. It is being procured by private players below the minimum support price (MSP), which is Rs 5,450 per quintal.

Farmers say the government is yet to start procurement while private players are buying their produce in the range of Rs 4,600 to Rs 5,000 per quintal.

‘Start procurement’

• Crop being bought by private players in Haryana below MSP, which is Rs 5,450 per quintal
• Farmers have asked the government to start the procurement process at the earliest
• Agriculture Minister JP Dalal announced that procurement would start on March 28

Farmers have asked the government to start the procurement process at the earliest so that they can sell their produce at least at the MSP.

Agriculture Minister JP Dalal today announced in Bhiwani that the government would start procurement of mustard on March 28.

Ajay Kumar, a farmer of Khera village in Indri block, said in 2022, mustard was procured between Rs 6,000 and Rs 6,600 per quintal by private purchasers, while in 2021, it was procured between Rs 5,000 and Rs 5,500 per quintal. “During the off season in 2021, I sold mustard at Rs 8,000 per quintal. This season has been bad,” he said.

“The MSP of mustard is Rs 5,450 per quintal, but it is being procured between Rs 4,600 and Rs 5,000 per quintal, which is a loss to the farming community. The procurement prices are coming down with each passing day,” said Nawab Singh, a farmer.

“Farmers are being forced to sell their produce at throwaway prices by the private players as the government is yet to start procurement,” said Jai Singh, another farmer.

The initial harvesting trend of the crop has indicated that the average yield has come down drastically as it suffered extensive damage due to freezing cold and ground frost during the peak winter season in January. Farmers and agriculture experts had stated that the average yield was likely to fall due to the adverse weather conditions when the crop was at the flowering stage.

Mustard is sown on 6.50 lakh hectares in the state with Hisar, Bhiwani, Rewari, Mahendragarh and Rohtak being the major mustard growing districts. The government has set a mustard production target of 13.65 lakh tonnes with an average yield of 2,100 kg per hectare, which is about 8.5 quintals per acre.

Hoshiyar Singh, a farmer of Kirtan village in the Balsamand region, which recorded sub-zero temperature in January, only got one quintal mustard from three acres. “I used to harvest about seven to nine quintals per acre. This year, the yield has been poor,” he said. Dr Ram Avtar, a mustard breeder scientist at Chaudhary Charan Singh Agriculture University, said they had conducted a survey and had expected a fall in the per acre yield this season. “The crop sown on unirrigated land adjoining Rajasthan in Hisar, Bhiwani, Mahendragarh and Rewari districts is the worst hit,” he said.