Karnataka CM seeks Centre’s intervention as maize, green gram prices plunge

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating that there has been a sharp drop in maize and green gram (moong) prices in the state and said that this drop has caused deep distress among farmers.

In his letter on Friday, Siddaramaiah said that Karnataka has grown maize on 17.94 lakh hectares and green gram on 4.16 lakh hectares this Kharif season, expecting 54.74 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of maize and 1,983 lakh MT of green gram. Instead, prices collapsed, sending farmers into crisis.

“Prices have fallen far below the Minimum Support Price (MSP) declared by the Government of India, creating widespread distress among farmers,” Siddaramaiah wrote. While the Center has fixed the MSP at Rs 2,400 per MT for maize and Rs 28,768 per MT for green gram, prevailing prices in Karnataka have fallen to around Rs 1,600 to Rs 1,800 per MT for maize and Rs 5,400 per MT for green gram, it said.
He said even the modal prices of the last three years were higher than the MSP, but external pressures and supply-demand distortions had pushed the prices to record low levels.

According to the CM, Karnataka has a surplus of 32 lakh MT of marketable maize, which far exceeds the absorption capacity of local industries.

Siddaramaiah urged Prime Minister Modi to direct NAFED, FCI and NCCF to immediately start MSP procurement under Price Support Scheme or any other suitable mechanism. It also sought measures to ensure that Karnataka farmers benefit equitably from the ethanol supply chain, noting that the base rate for corn-based ethanol is Rs 266.07 per litre, with an additional incentive of Rs 5.79 per litre. The CM claimed that many ethanol plants buy maize from middlemen instead of farmers. PTI