Rabi Area Shrinks

Rabi crop sowing is in progress and the area under pulses coverage until mid-November has been about 69.95-lakh hectare, 18 per cent less, than the 85.32 lakh hectares coverage for the same period last year.

The decline in area coverage is visible in all major pulses growing states: Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Karnataka. It is a fact that declaration of high Minimum Support Price (MSP) resulted in a quantum jump in India's pulses production in recent years.

Perhaps enthusiasm has begun to wane because the farmers aren't getting the promised high MSP. It is high time government realises that annual increase in MSP is meaningless unless it reaches the farmer.