Farmers push Congress to try statutory MSP for four crops in Rajasthan

Ahead of the assembly polls in Rajasthan in December, farmers have demanded a legal guarantee of  minimum support price (MSP) for at least four crops, of which the state is the largest producer in three and the second largest in one. experimentally. If this is not done before the demonstration practices take effect, farmers from other countries will also participate in the campaign to gather demand support. After a day-long discussion in New Delhi on September 16, Kisan Mahapanchayat, a farmers’ organization with a large base in Rajasthan,  decided to make farmers aware of “No MSP, No Vote”. Kisan Mahapanchayat president Rampal Jat told Business, “We have proposed the state government to introduce a mandatory MSP scheme for moong, bajra, mustard and jowar as Rajasthan is the largest producer of these crops as an experiment. The state government can buy  MSP and sell it at a fixed price at a higher price when merchants refuse to buy.” 

  Asked about Maharashtra’s failed experience of implementing MSP on soybeans when traders were buying cheaper from Madhya Pradesh, Jat said the market follows the reference price as there would not be “enough” availability of these crops under MSP in Rajasthan. “If Rajasthan produces half of the mustard crop which is not available under the MSP,  the price of the crop in other states will automatically be the same” demand. Meanwhile, the Centre’s statutory MSP committee  headed by former agriculture minister Sanjay Agarwal is scheduled to meet in Mumbai on September 26. Sources said the committee is likely to submit a report, possibly an interim one, before Diwali. 

  According to the Rajasthan government, the state’s mustard production in 2022-23 was 63.31 lakh tonnes (lt), which is 51 percent of the country’s total production of 124.94 lt. Similarly, production of moong (green gram)  was 11.75 liters (31 percent) of the all India production of 37.4 liters and bajra (pearl millet)  in the state was 58.9 liters (53 percent) of the all India production of 111.66. liters production 

  Jat said  Rajasthan is the largest producer of jowar (sorghum) in the kharif season as Maharashtra produces that food grain crop in the rabi season. According to the state government, Rajasthan accounted for 38 percent of the jowar production in the kharif 2022-23 and produced 5.67 liters of the country’s production of 14.87 liters. However, if the  production of both kharif and rabi crops is added, the state’s share was 14 percent. Meanwhile, average mandi prices in Rajasthan were ₹ 8,033 per quintal in September  against  MSP of ₹ 8,558 per quintal, Bajra at ₹ 1,958 per quintal, MSP at ₹ 2,500 per quintal and Bajtra at ₹ 2,937 per quintal at 37.9 million SP. /quint/MSP/MSP after a new crop arrives. When asked recently about the  higher than MSP prices observed when Moong arrived in some mandis, Jat said, “Legitimate MSP provides guaranteed income to farmers as laborers are paid and even the minimum daily wage set by the government. I am asking them because of the alternatives. because they too are wide and open”.

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