The Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS), a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Singh (RSS)-affiliated farmers’ group, has urged the Centre to fix a minimum support price (MSP) of ₹60,000/tonne for castorseed.
Stating that India holds a near-monopoly position in castor production, farmers growing the oilseed should be protected from the present low prices hovering around ₹35,000/tonne, around ₹10,000 lower than rates during the same period a year ago.
“We met Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh when he visited Gujarat earlier. The Government has to put in place MSP for castorseed as also a minimum export price (MEP) of $1,800/tonne for its derivatives,” said Maganbhai Patel, President, BKS (Gujarat region), at a press conference here on Thursday
The cost of cultivating castor, planted between June and July and harvested in January-February, is estimated at ₹6,000-7,000/quintal while prices have dropped from ₹4,000 to ₹3,600 in the past two months. An estimated carryover stock of 6,00,000 tonnes also depressed prices.
Among the reasons cited by the BKS for castor growers’ woes, besides prices having slid by ₹300/quintal, is the alleged collusion between the country’s chief exporters of castor derivatives with commodity exchanges, such as NCDEX, to suppress prices and favour foreign buyers.
BKS named Jayant Agro Organics Ltd, Adani Wilmar and Gokul Refoils & Solvent Ltd among the exporters for growers’ failure to obtain attractive prices commensurate with the versatility of castor products from buyers abroad.
“Such low prices of export sales depress domestic prices and hurt growers who are denied remunerative returns,” said Patel, adding that farmers had been asked by the BKS to not take their castor crop to the markets for now.
Castor oil finds a wide range of applications as industry fuel, in the paper, paint and pharmaceutical industries and increasingly in cosmetics, which is seeing a shift away from synthetic oils.
Primary buyers include Dutch commodity service provider Nidera and a few importers in the EU, the US and Japan.
Industry estimates peg castor production at 11.5 lakh tonnes (lt) this year, down from 16 lt in 2013-14.
The group also sent a letter to the Agriculture Minister on March 11, outlining estimates of farmers’ losses due to non-procurement of foodgrains and damage from untimely rain. It also demanded that MSP for all agri-produce be determined on the basis of cost of cultivation and States be allowed to pay bonuses to farmers.