Non-assurance of a Minimum Support Price (MSP) for their produce, low market prices and government procurement plus lack of storage options are driving Punjab farmers to stay away from sowing a third annual crop.
Alleging tardy procurement of paddy, farmers, who have been forced to stay put at grain markets for over a week to guard their produce, rued that they even had to spend even the Diwali night at mandis. They also rued poor arrangements of safety for their produce at mandis.
In a bid to get better prices for the produce, farmers from Punjab, especially from Bathinda, Mansa and Sangrur, have started carrying paddy to mandis in Haryana now. The development has upset arhtiyas, labourers and rice millers since it’s causing them “substantial” losses.