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Mustard farmers left high and dry after Haryana government stops procurement
Haryana agriculture minister JP Dalal said the government is committed to purchasing every registered mustard grain and he will urge the chief minister to restart the mustard procurement for a few days. Farmers staged protests against the government’s decision by blocking roads in Bhiwani, Dadri and Sirsa.
Haryana farmers are left high and dry after the government stopped mustard procurement. The growers are protesting for the last two days in Bhiwani, Charkhi Dadri, Mahendergarh and Sirsa districts. The mustard was being procured at ₹5,450 per quintal but the prices in the open market have fallen to ₹4,400 per quintal.
Sombir Singh, a farmer from Kasni village in Bhiwani, said he had taken mandi gate pass and unloaded his vehicle carrying 40 quintals of mustard at a commission agent’s shop in Behal mandi on Saturday, but his produce was not procured as the government stopped the procurement process on April 30.
“The government’s decision will cost me a loss of ₹40,000 and hundreds of farmers like me have to bear this brunt. The commission agent has asked me to either sell the produce at ₹4,400 per quintal or wait for a restart of the procurement process,” he added.
Dayanand Punia, secretary of the All-India Kisan Sabha, said many farmers had received the gate pass and tokens which are required to sell the produce, but their online procurement was not done as the government stopped the mustard procurement.
“These farmers had registered their produce on the portal even though their produce was not procured. This year, a hailstorm had first crushed the farmers’ dreams and now the government’s decision to stop the procurement. The government should reprocure the mustard, otherwise we will start staging protests,” he added.
Rakesh Kumar, who brought his mustard produce to the Badhra mandi in Charkhi Dadri on Saturday, said he was not allowed to take his tractor-trailer in the grain market as the lifting of wheat and mustard was not done.
“Mandi officials did not procure the mustard on Saturday and the next day, the procurement was stopped. Where shall we go now and who will bear the losses as the mustard price in the open market has fallen by ₹800- ₹1,000 per quintal,” he added.
The farmers staged protests against the government’s decision by blocking roads in Bhiwani, Dadri and Sirsa.
Two senior administrative officials from Bhiwani and Dadri requesting anonymity said every year NAFED procures 25% of the total estimated mustard crop production.
“This year they purchased 34 lakh quintal of mustard. The state government failed to ensure the procurement of the remaining produce through HAFED and warehouse corporation. No order to stop the crop procurement was given to mandi officials and they gave tokens to farmers and as the NAFED’s target was complete, they stopped the procurement. There was a lack of communication between purchasing agencies and the government,” the officials added.
Haryana agriculture minister JP Dalal said the government is committed to purchasing every registered mustard grain and he will urge the chief minister to restart the mustard procurement for a few days.
“I have received complaints that many farmers could not sell their mustard crop in Loharu, Badra and other parts of the state,” Dalal told reporters in Badhra on Monday.
