Civil society groups call for government intervention to prevent distress sale by farmers

New Delhi, Mar 24: Five organisations which studied the ground reality on the payment of Minimum Support Price to farmers for their produce have found out that ``of the nine mandis studied in five states in not a single mandi were farmers able to sell any crop at government mandated MSP’’. 

The study does not include wheat crop, which is still arriving in mandis.
The civil society groups are seeking immediate market intervention by the Government to prevent distress sale by farmers.
Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Yodendra Yadav of Jai Kisan Andolan and Sunilam of the Kisan Sangarsh Samiti said on account of bumper harvests, prices of rabi Bengal Gram and Mustard had crashed by 10 to 20 per cent.
``Procurement operations let the farmers down, when most needed,’’ said an interim report published by the organisations and released to media persons here. 
Stating that there was urgent need for market intervention and effective procurement to prevent further damage, Mr Yadav said , ``we invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit any mandi and take up any crop and ascertain whether farmers are getting MSP for their produce.’’
Representatives of Jan Kisan Andolan, National Alliance of Peoples’ Movements, Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, Kisan Sangarsh Samiti, Rythu Joint Action Committee and Rythu Swarajya Vedika visited mandis in five states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan and Haryana.
The crops for which MSP payment were studied included tur dal, groundnut, cotton (in kharif marketing season) and Bengal Gram, Mustard and Barley (in Rabi marketing season). 
``Now, we are going to study mandis in Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh,’’ Mr Yadav said.
The interim report recommended that procurement should start on time and extend for a longer period to prevent distress sales. 
Sufficient number of procurement centres should be opened and their location should be communicated well in advance. 
Fund Transfer Order should be generated within 24 hours, failing which, penal interest should be paid to farmers. UNI