Pointing out glaring violations of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) on pulses procurement which has assured 100 per cent purchase at minimum support price (MSP) from registered farmers, Kisan Mahapanchayat has sought union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh’s Chouhan’s intervention in Rajasthan so that chana (gram) farmers are saved from losing average ₹3 lakh due to 40 quintal sales cap amid lower market rates.
In a letter to Chouhan, Kisan Mahapanchayat’s Rampal Jat has said that over 5,000 chana farmers have already been registered in Rajasthan to sell their produce to the government at MSP of ₹5,875 per quintal. However, they are unable to sell as procurement has not commenced in all the growing districts and also refusal by procuring agencies to buy above 40 quintals.
“Procurement of chana in Rajasthan has commenced only in Kishangarh (Ajmer district). Even there, farmers who registered with Rajfed, the nodal state agency, and whose procurement has already reached the prescribed limit of 40 quintals, are being excluded from the Central scheme that allows 100 per cent purchase. “Rajfed had conducted the registration on behalf of Nafed, which is the agency notified by the government for pulses procurement. It is entirely appropriate and justified for Nafed to undertake direct procurement based on the registrations already processed by Rajfed,” Jat said.
Pointing out that current market rates of chana are between ₹5,000 and ₹5,200 per quintal, as a cap of 40 quintals purchase is enforced, Jat said that farmers will be compelled to sell their remaining produce at a loss of ₹775 per quintal. “In accordance with the (SOP) prescribed by welfare-oriented government, the procurement of every single grain of produce is imperative,” he said.
“A farmer who has produced about 400 quintal of chana on the promise that he would be able to get MSP after launch of Pulses Mission would be forced to sell 360 quintal in open market at a total loss of ₹2.5-3 lakh because of the government’s denial to him,” he said and demanded the cap should be immediately removed and the entire produce be bought if farmers want. For a small farmer, ₹3 lakh is a big amount to lose, he added.
Jat also suggested as an alternative ‘Price Deficiency Payment Scheme’ (PDPS) should be implemented for chana in Rajasthan if the government is unable to buy the entire produce so that farmers can recover the loss after selling those in open market. Under PDPS, the Centre pays the differential price between MSP and modal rate directly to farmers when open market rules lower.
He said the Union Cabinet on October 1, 2025 launched the “Mission for Self-Reliance in Pulses” with a budgetary allocation of ₹11,440 crore. As the aim is to increase the country’s pulses production to 350 lakh tonnes by the end of the year 2031, and also raise productivity levels to 1,130 kg per hectare by ensuring 2 crore farmers benefit from guaranteed procurement, the Centre should accord priority to it over the 2018 launched PM-AASHA, he said.
Published on April 30, 2026