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Over 100 farmers from different districts of Rajasthan on Thursday pledged not to sell the current mustard crop below its minimum support price (MSP) of ₹5,450 per quintal and also appealed to other growers not to make any distress sale.
Under the aegis of Kisan Mahapanchayat, a Rajasthan-based outfit, farmers decided to fix the price of their products, said Rampal Jat, President of the organisation.
As mustard price declined by ₹3,000 per quintal this year from a peak of ₹7,444/quintal realised by farmers last year, Kisan Mahapanchayat decided to take it up, Jat said addressing a gathering of protesting farmers in Delhi.
“After requesting the Centre and State governments to ensure mustard farmers get the MSP, that did not yield any result, there were two options before us — either to stop supply or insist on MSP. Most of the farmers were in favour of not selling below MSP as they did not want to withhold supply,” he said.
Average mandi price
According to the Agmarknet portal, the average mandi price of mustard in Rajasthan is ₹5,079/quintal this month (during April 1-5) whereas it was ₹4,987/quintal in March. In Madhya Pradesh, the current month’s average is ₹5,011/quintal, up from ₹4,828/quintal last month.
The country’s mustard output is estimated at 128.18 lakh tonnes (lt) in the 2022-23 crop year (July-June), up from 119.63 lt last year. Rajasthan’s mustard output is seen at 46 lt.
“Now the time has come for the farmers to determine the prices of their produce themselves and it can be started with the oilseeds and pulses in which the country is not self-sufficient. With this in view, the mustard-producing farmers of the country are requested not to sell their crop at prices less than the MSP,” Kisan Mahapanchayat said in a statement.
In March, the Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEAI) and the Soyabean Processors Association of India (SOPA) urged the Centre to intervene by responding to falling mustard prices, which dropped below the minimum support price in line with global trends.
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