Farmers from different villag­ es in Delhi alleged that they are not getting the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for their produce in markets and ma­ ny times, suffer losses des­ pite the Delhi government promising higher prices than the MSP.

“A week ago, I sold about 17 quintals of bajra for ₹1,250/ quintal to a middleman in Najafgarh mandi. The MSP is more than ₹2,100. But we do not get that rate and there is no government control at the mandi. Also, the government does not buy from us,” said 65­year­old Ram Kumar, a farmer from Kharkhari Jat­ mal village in Delhi.

Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) Delhi in­charge Viren­ der Dagar said the Delhi go­ vernment had promised them Swaminathan Commit­ tee rates for their produce, which is higher than the MSP, but they do not even get the MSP.

Naresh Kumar, Chairman of Najafgarh Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC), where farmers go to sell their produce, said the FCI (Food Corporation of In­ dia) under the Centre has not been procuring any produce from Delhi’s markets since 2015. He said they have writ­ ten multiple letters to the FCI

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on the same, but in vain. “The Delhi government has no power to buy produce from farmers and it has no storage. If FCI buys from the farmer, then they will buy at MS. But now when a private person buys, farmers do not get the MSP in most cases,” Mr. Kumar said. He said the farmers are suffering losses

because of this problem.
On Tuesday, the BKU gave a memorandum to Chief Mi­ nister Arvind Kejriwal on the issue and he has promised to

look into the matter.

Panel report

In February 2019, the Delhi government had said they have “conceptualised” the implementation of recom­ mendations of the Swami­ nathan Committee report on farmers that “MSP should be

at least 50% more than the weighted average cost of pro­ duction” under a scheme — Mukhya Mantri Kisan Mitra Yojna.

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An “Agriculture Confe­ rence on Implementation of Recommendations of Swami­ nathan Committee” was also held by Development Minis­ ter Gopal Rai. The proposed MSP, with 50% margin at the cost of production, was ₹2,616/ quintal and ₹2,667/ quintal for wheat and paddy respectively.

“The proposed MSP struc­ ture is higher than the Go­ vernment of India MSP by ₹776/quintal for wheat and ₹897/quintal for paddy. It is likely to incur an additional liability of ₹96.38 crore, if im­ plemented,” an official state­ ment had said. The FCI was supposed to buy produce

from the farmers at the new higher MSP and the Delhi go­ vernment was to give the ex­ tra amount to the Centre. But the scheme did not work out as FCI is not buying the pro­ duce, according to Delhi go­ vernment officials.

Mr. Kumar and other farmers said their counter­ parts in Haryana were get­ ting the MSP of ₹2,150/quin­ tal for bajra. “After all my expenses in ploughing, sow­ ing, cost of manure and cut­ ting, I am losing money by selling it at ₹1,250/quintal. But what can I do?” said the farmer, who owns two acres of land.

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Kamal Singh, 60, from the same village said he had sold 27 quintals of wheat at ₹1,680/ quintal, which is less than the MSP of ₹1,925/quin­ tal of 2019.Many others from the village had similar com­ plaints and said that always middlemen buy from them.

Yogesh Phalswal, 25, of Ghumman Hera village said bajra is being sold for around ₹1,400/quintal and they do not get MSP. He also showed a WhatsApp message of the purported rates of different produce being sold in the market and all prices in the list, expect for rice, was low­ er than MSP.

A Delhi government spo­ kesperson refused to res­ pond to queries.