Farmers from different villag es in Delhi alleged that they are not getting the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for their produce in markets and ma ny times, suffer losses des pite the Delhi government promising higher prices than the MSP.
“A week ago, I sold about 17 quintals of bajra for ₹1,250/ quintal to a middleman in Najafgarh mandi. The MSP is more than ₹2,100. But we do not get that rate and there is no government control at the mandi. Also, the government does not buy from us,” said 65yearold Ram Kumar, a farmer from Kharkhari Jat mal village in Delhi.
Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) Delhi incharge Viren der Dagar said the Delhi go vernment had promised them Swaminathan Commit tee rates for their produce, which is higher than the MSP, but they do not even get the MSP.
Naresh Kumar, Chairman of Najafgarh Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC), where farmers go to sell their produce, said the FCI (Food Corporation of In dia) under the Centre has not been procuring any produce from Delhi’s markets since 2015. He said they have writ ten multiple letters to the FCI
on the same, but in vain. “The Delhi government has no power to buy produce from farmers and it has no storage. If FCI buys from the farmer, then they will buy at MS. But now when a private person buys, farmers do not get the MSP in most cases,” Mr. Kumar said. He said the farmers are suffering losses
because of this problem.
On Tuesday, the BKU gave a memorandum to Chief Mi nister Arvind Kejriwal on the issue and he has promised to
look into the matter.
Panel report
In February 2019, the Delhi government had said they have “conceptualised” the implementation of recom mendations of the Swami nathan Committee report on farmers that “MSP should be
at least 50% more than the weighted average cost of pro duction” under a scheme — Mukhya Mantri Kisan Mitra Yojna.
An “Agriculture Confe rence on Implementation of Recommendations of Swami nathan Committee” was also held by Development Minis ter Gopal Rai. The proposed MSP, with 50% margin at the cost of production, was ₹2,616/ quintal and ₹2,667/ quintal for wheat and paddy respectively.
“The proposed MSP struc ture is higher than the Go vernment of India MSP by ₹776/quintal for wheat and ₹897/quintal for paddy. It is likely to incur an additional liability of ₹96.38 crore, if im plemented,” an official state ment had said. The FCI was supposed to buy produce
from the farmers at the new higher MSP and the Delhi go vernment was to give the ex tra amount to the Centre. But the scheme did not work out as FCI is not buying the pro duce, according to Delhi go vernment officials.
Mr. Kumar and other farmers said their counter parts in Haryana were get ting the MSP of ₹2,150/quin tal for bajra. “After all my expenses in ploughing, sow ing, cost of manure and cut ting, I am losing money by selling it at ₹1,250/quintal. But what can I do?” said the farmer, who owns two acres of land.
Kamal Singh, 60, from the same village said he had sold 27 quintals of wheat at ₹1,680/ quintal, which is less than the MSP of ₹1,925/quin tal of 2019.Many others from the village had similar com plaints and said that always middlemen buy from them.
Yogesh Phalswal, 25, of Ghumman Hera village said bajra is being sold for around ₹1,400/quintal and they do not get MSP. He also showed a WhatsApp message of the purported rates of different produce being sold in the market and all prices in the list, expect for rice, was low er than MSP.
A Delhi government spo kesperson refused to res pond to queries.
