Urad price crash puts Madhya Pradesh farmers in a bind

Two-thirds of farmers in state might lose 40% of their income

In the Bhopal agricultural market, the price of urad bean plummeted to Rs 1,500-1,750 per quintal in the last week of October, a meagre one-third of the minimum support price (MSP) set at Rs 5,400 per quintal by the government for the 2017 kharif season.

Even in Neemuch in the Malwa region bordering Rajasthan, where urad bean arrival has been one of the highest in the state till date, the price went down to Rs 3,450 per quintal, 60 per cent of the MSP. Owing to the 50 per cent jump in the area sown, supply glut was bound to