Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh): Farmers were forced to sell peas for just Rs 2 per kg in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur Mandi on Wednesday following a bumper crop and lack of buyers.
The vegetable which usually fetched Rs 30 a kilogram was practically given for free, with one woman Pramila Sarathe, a resident of the ITI area in Jabalpur, buying 70 kg of peas for just Rs 100. Asked whether she planned to further sell the produce, Pramila said she would distribute some of it among her relatives. Like her, hundreds of other people bought peas for the throwaway price.
Why did such a situation arise?
Peas are sold in Jabalpur Mandi for Rs 10 to Rs 15 per kg during the season. However, for the last four days, the market has seen a massive quantity of peas coming in from both Jabalpur as well as Narsingpur areas unlike in the past when only Jabalpur produce used to reach here. This year, pea crop from Damoh, Sagar and other areas is being harvested simultaneously. Because of it, in place of 500 trucks, around 1000 trucks of peas arrived in Jabalpur which led to a massive drop in prices.
Traders also stranded
Peas from Jabalpur go to Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal markets. Ayodhya's vegetable trader Mohammad Gufran said he buys peas from Jabalpur and sends them to Madiyo in Uttar Pradesh. He had purchased peas worth Rs 2 lakh and like him, other traders also had purchased peas to send to other states.
However, as the quantity increased, the farmers started protesting and blocked the gates of the market due to which a lot of produce could not reach other states in time resulting in massive financial losses to the traders. At the same time, farmers also lost lakhs of rupees as their produce fetched poor prices. To pacify the agitating farmers, the government has promised to give them a compensation of Rs 700 per quintal.
Rajeev Kumar Nayak from Patan said he had come to sell 35 bags of peas but they were spoiled and now he was taking them back. The Jabalpur Market (Mandi) Board, he said, gave them a receipt which said that the Patwari would take photographs on the spot and then compensate him at the rate of Rs 700 per quintal. Amid this dire situation, common people were the only beneficiaries as they were able to buy peas for nearly free.
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