At the Latur’s wholesale market, the average traded price of tur on Tuesday was Rs 5,540 per quintal. FileThe Maharashtra government is likely to start the procurement of tur (pigeon pea) from February 7. Officials from the state marketing department felt that the wholesale prices would soon cross the government mandated Minimum Support Price (MSP) and thus they might not meet the target of procurement for the season.
For the present kharif season, Maharashtra has reported 12.2 lakh hectares of tur sowing. Harvesting of the crop has started and is completed in most parts of the state. Tur is an important crop for farmers in Marathwada and Vidarbha who harvest the crop in January and February period. Latur and Akola are major wholesale markets for the lentil.
At the Latur’s wholesale market, the average traded price of tur on Tuesday was Rs 5,540 per quintal. Given the MSP of the lentil is Rs 5,675 per quintal, market sources feel that the wholesale prices would firm up as yield per acre is reportedly low due to the drought.
Officers from the state department of marketing said the online registration of farmers is going on but the response has been lukewarm. “Around 5,000-10,000 farmers have registered so far,” said the officer. Maharashtra has been given a target of 2.5 lakh tonnes for the procurement.
“However we do not feel the target will be met,” the officer said. Traders in the wholesale markets of Latur said the commodity would soon cross the MSP levels.
Drought has been pushing up prices of commodities in wholesale markets. Soyabean, another important kharif crop, has been trading at Rs 3,700 per quintal as against Rs 3,399 per quintal MSP.
Similarly, jowar, maize and other commodities are also trading above their MSP. However, due to the drought, most of the farmers have little or no stock to sell.
