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Crop prices: The pulse of producers -Vivek Deshpande

-The Indian Express

Israel Khan grows arhar as an intercrop in alternate rows with soyabean and cotton.

Amravati:
Israel Khan from Dhamori, Nandakishor Babhulkar from Mhaispur, Arun Shende from Rajura, Amol Savai from Naya Akola, and Salim Shah Baba Shah from Pusda — all villages in Amravati district — have the same story to tell. As farmers of arhar (pigeon pea) — a crop in the news not too long ago — they have seen its prices virtually halve from over Rs 9,000 per quintal at this time last year to less than the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 4,625, excluding a bonus component of Rs 425/quintal, announced by the Narendra Modi government.

What has particularly disappointed them is the fact that the current government had mounted a special effort to promote pulses this year — including by hiking the effective procurement price (MSP plus bonus) for arhar from Rs 4,625 to Rs 5,050 per quintal for the 2016-17 crop season. But all this has made little difference to farmers in this traditional arhar bowl of Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region.

Israel Khan has three acres of non-irrigated land in Dhamori village of Amravati’s Bhatkuli taluka. On these, he grows arhar as an intercrop in alternate rows with soyabean and cotton. While planted at the same time around mid-June, the soyabean and cotton crops are harvested by end-September and late-November, respectively. Arhar harvesting starts from mid-January onwards. Khan’s crop of 8.5 quintals is lower than last year’s nine quintals, courtesy a biting cold this time that impacted pod-filling and led to flatter beans. But the crash in realisations is what has left him shell-shocked. “All I got was Rs 36,000 from selling my 8.5 quintals at Rs 4,235 per quintal. If you subtract my input costs of Rs 21,000 at Rs 7,000 per acre, it hardly leaves anything,” he says. Last year, his nine quintals crop fetched Rs 9,000-9,100 per quintal.

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