Low chana price worries Vid ryots

Nagpur: Farmers in Vidarbha are reeling under a fresh setback as the chana (gram) crop has also failed to command a good price.
After poor returns from tur and low demand for cotton, they were expecting to make it up through chana, but traders are offering Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,600 less than the minimum support price of Rs 4,400.

The low rates being offered for chana has added to the despondency of farmers as there is a bumper crop of this pulse this year because of favourable weather conditions. A good chunk of cotton crop was lost to pink bollworm attacks and there was distress selling in tur till the government started procurement.

Farmers had pinned hopes on gram as they took up this crop after delayed rains in larger areas. Now, there is a glut of chana in the market but no takers at a good price.

This was a big let down as gram commanded a high price of Rs 6,000 a quintal barely two years ago. This led to more areas being taken up under the crop this year in the hope of making up for past losses. “But I had to sell it between Rs 2,800 and Rs 3,100 last week,” said Shrikant Deshpande, a farmer from Amravati district.

State farmers’ task force head Kishore Tiwari also observed that the last hopes of the farmers were dashed. “The state government has not yet announced any intervention measure. The central agency NAFED is not keen on starting procurement in the state,” he said.

Expressing grave concern over the farmers’ increasing plight in the region, Tiwari said people were losing hope as the government has miserably failed to stick to its plans.

“The state has lost credibility. Tur procurement was started over a month after its online registration by farmers. Now there is a delay in payments. Other things like delay in rolling out the loan waiver scheme, no commitment to pay compensation for crop loss from pink-bollworm and to victims of pesticide poison inhalation have all added up to a drastic rise in stress level among farmers,” said Tiwari.