50,000+ farmers in district are forced to sell three-fourth of their crops to traders in open market at low prices

Chandrapur: Gram is the main rabi crop of the Chandrapur district. According to Wainganga Valley Farmer Producer Companies Federation (WVFPCF), there has been absolutely no increase in the official estimates of crop yields in the district since independence due to the agriculture department’s apathy and irregular assessment process.

“The present area under gram cultivation is also about 62,372 hectares. Federation’s alleged official Narendra Jiwtode said on Thursday that more than 50,000 farmers of the district are forced to sell three-fourths of their crops to traders at low prices in the open market.

According to Narendra Jiwtode, the agriculture department fixes the quantity of gram production per hectare every year.

Farmers in Chandrapur are forced to sell the remaining three-fourths of their produce

The department is also sending an estimate of production of about 7.5 quintals per hectare (i.e. 3 quintals per acre) to the government for the last many years. However, the average production of grams has increased to about 20 quintals per hectare. They said.

He has also claimed that the government buys only 7.5 quintals of chana per hectare from farmers, which is only a quarter of the production, according to data sent by the agriculture and revenue departments.

“While the government rate is around ₹5,300 per quintal, Farmers in Chandrapur are forced to sell the remaining three-fourth of their produce to traders in the open market at only ₹4,000 to ₹4,200 per quintal.” Narendra Jiwtode said adding that there has been a steady rise in prices in other districts of Vidarbha.

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