This is an archive article published on January 28, 2022
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Tur prices above MSP, most farmers not keen to sell their produce
🔴 Officials expect 25 per cent drop in production due to winter rain. Under the open general license, around 6.5 lakh tonnes of tur has arrived in the country.
Maharashtra and Karnataka are major tur producing states. (Representative Image)
Written by:Partha Sarathi Biswas
3 min readPuneJan 28, 2022 07:37 AM IST
First published on: Jan 28, 2022 at 06:14 AM IST
AVERAGE TRADED price of tur in most mandis of Maharashtra and Karnataka are trading above the government-declared minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 6,300 per quintal. Farmers have mostly decided to hold on to their stock rather than sell it, which has led to an increase in prices in the mandis.
For the 2021-22 Kharif season, farmers in India had sown the crop over 48.24 lakh hectares. Maharashtra and Karnataka are major tur producing states. The crop, which hits the markets post-December, had started on weak sentiments as a bumper production was expected. So, the National Cooperative Agricultural Marketing Federation (NAFED) had started the groundwork for procurement at MSP at its centres earlier than usual.
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However, rains in December and early January seem to have turned the tide against a bumper production in both Karnataka and Maharashtra. Agriculture officials of both states have expected a 20-25 per cent dip in production. Lower production has affected the prices with an average-traded price both in Latur’s wholesale market in Maharashtra and Gulbarga in Karnataka pushing past the MSP levels. Latur market saw the pulse being traded at Rs 6,500 per quintal.
As a result of this price rally, there is a delay in the arrival of the pulse with farmers adopting a wait and watch policy rather than selling their produce. This has resulted in lower-than-expected registration of farmers willing to sell their produce at the procurement centres.
Yogesh Thorat, Managing Director, MahaFPC — the umbrella body of FPCs in the state and a state-level agency that procure the commodity on behalf of NAFED — said that they have seen around 7,000 farmers registering to sell their produce. “Most farmers feel that prices would increase in the days to come so, they have decided to wait before liquidating their stock,” he said.
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While the rainfall in October-November had taken a toll on the crop in the Marathawada and north Karanataka, rainfall in December had seen the cultivation of tur suffer in Vidharbha and Madhya Pradesh suffer.
Under the open general license, around 6.5 lakh tonnes of tur has arrived in the country.
Maharashtra and Karnataka are major tur producing states. (Representative Image) 
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