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Informist, Thursday, Jun. 12, 2025

 

By Shreya Shetty

 

MUMBAI – The Madhya Pradesh government has refused to procure the summer moong crop in the state due to high levels of chemicals in the crop, as per news reports, but market participants allege the refusal to buy the crop is due to storage issues, as huge stockpiles of rice and wheat are taking up all the space in godowns. Lack of funds could also have deterred the government from procuring the legume, they said.

 

Madhya Pradesh is the top producer of moong in the country. The state's total moong output in 2024-25 (Jul-Jun) is pegged at 1.43 million tonnes, of which 1.40 million tonnes was produced during the summer crop season, according to the third advance estimate released by the Centre on May 28.

 

Usually, the government procures the summer moong crop in Madhya Pradesh at the minimum support price. However, according to media reports on Friday, government officials said they will abstain from procuring moong this year, citing high levels of pesticides and chemicals in the crop.

 

The announcement came as a shock to the market, as this would mark the first time food grain purchases have been refused under a government procurement programme. The reasoning behind the refusal also puzzled market participants.

 

"The government's sudden decision to say moong has too much pesticide has surprised farmers, because they've been using the same sprays for years and were never told it could be a problem," said Gaurav Kochar, a trader from Ashok Nagar, Madhya Pradesh. "No clear rules or warnings were given in advance, and no test reports have been shown to prove the claim."

 

Many farmers in the state spray herbicides or weedicides on the entire crop when it is ripe for harvest. This leads to the plant drying up in a day or two, which makes it suitable to be harvested by a mechanical harvesting machine. The government claimed that certain banned agrochemicals such as glyphosate and paraquat have been sprayed extensively on the crop, said Rahul Chauhan, director of IGrain, an agro-commodity research centre.

 

"If there was a fear of high chemical residues in the crop, there should have been some infrastructure in place to test the crop for the same," said Satish Upadhyay, secretary, India Pulses and Grains Association. It is also important to note that not all farmers use the same kind of pesticides, and some don't use them at all, he added.

 

"The decision is absurd, because if the crop really contains high residues of chemicals and pesticides, then why is it allowed to be sold in the markets?" Upadhyay asked.

 

"If it is too harmful for the government to procure, then it is harmful for normal consumption as well—so will they (the government) destroy the entire crop now?" asked Devendra Vora, a wholesale dealer from Vashi, Navi Mumbai.

 

With the market finding it difficult to make sense of the government's reasoning for the refusal to procure moong, many believe the reports to be untrue.

 

"The state government does not have any storage space," Vora said. The state's hefty procurement of wheat and rice has taken up all the space, he said. "There is also less storage space as they still have moong stock from the previous two years which they have been unable to offload," Upadhyay said.

 

Wheat procurement in Madhya Pradesh touched 7.8 million tonnes so this season, against a target of 8 million tonnes. The Centre had revised its 2025-26 (Apr-Mar) wheat procurement pan-India target twice--first to 32.3 million tonnes and then to 33.3 million tonnes--primarily on the back of Madhya Pradesh's performance. Meanwhile, rice stocks at Food Corp. of India are at a two-decade high of 38.0 million tonnes, as of Jun. 1.

 

Market participants also said the state government may not have sufficient funds to procure the legume, barring them from procuring it during this season. The minimum support price for moong is INR 8,682 per 100 kg for the kharif marketing season 2024-25 (Oct-Sept), the highest among all pulses.

 

"There is no parity in moong prices, even internationally," Vora said. "They (the government) have always hiked the minimum support price of the legume without thinking how the domestic and international markets will be able to match it," he said.

 

Prices of moong have already been on a downtrend due to a rise in arrivals of the summer crop in the markets. Following the government's refusal to procure the legume on Friday, prices of moong have dropped further in the last six days.

 

Prices of moong in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, fell to INR 6,000-INR 6,500 per 100 kg on Thursday from INR 6,500-INR 7,050 on Friday, while those in Pipariya, Madhya Pradesh, dropped to INR 6,000-INR 6,500 per 100 kg from 6,000-INR 7,400 per 100 kg six days ago.

 

Farmers in Madhya Pradesh had sown moong with the expectation of selling it at the government-declared minimum support price, but the latest news caused panic in the market, leading to a fall in prices, Kochar said. "As a result, farmers began dumping their produce in mandis (markets), traders who typically stock moong halted purchases, and millers shifted to hand-to-mouth buying instead of advance stocking," he said.

 

Prices of moong have also fallen in other states, with rates dropping to INR 5,800-INR 6,500 per 100 kg on Thursday from INR 6,000-INR 7,400 per 100 kg on Friday in Lalitpur, Uttar Pradesh. Prices of the legume in Kalaburagi, Karnataka, fell to INR 6,000-INR 7,000 per 100 kg from INR 7,000-INR 7,500 per 100 kg during the same period.

 

Prices could recover if the government agrees to procure the legume, Upadhyay said. However, chances of the state rescinding its decision look bleak, market participants said. "A government clarification is needed, but it's unclear if or when it will come," Kochar said.

 

In a meeting with representatives of the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh delegation on Tuesday, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav had said that moong will be bought through a transparent auction in the markets. "Outside traders" will be invited to bid so farmers can secure good prices, with the aim of fixing the moong model rate at around INR 7,500 per 100 kg, according to a post by the India Pulses and Grains Association.

 

However, a transparent auction inviting out-of-state traders to buy moong at a model rate is not the same as the government procuring the legume at the minimum support price, market participants said.

 

The damage done by the state's refusal to procure moong has gone beyond affecting prices of the legume, market participants said. "Moong from Madhya Pradesh is defamed, because now buyers will think twice about buying it from the state," Upadhyay said. "It will create fear among buyers. Even without proof, they may doubt the quality and avoid stocking moong, which can hurt demand and prices," Kochar said.

 

Due to a decline in prices and weakening demand, kharif sowing of moong could decline significantly, potentially affecting the future supply of pulses in the domestic market, Chauhan said.  End

 

Edited by Tanima Banerjee

 

 

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