Bengaluru, Jan 14 (IANS) Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, highlighting the severe crisis faced by Bengal gram farmers in Karnartaka and urged immediate intervention of the Centre.

Taking to social media X, CM Siddaramaiah stated, “I have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan highlighting the severe crisis faced by Bengal gram farmers in Karnataka. Despite a Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 5,875 per quintal, market prices have fallen far below MSP, forcing farmers into distress sales.”

“I have urged the Centre to immediately begin procurement under the Price Support Scheme (PSS) to protect farmers’ incomes and stabilise the market,” he stated.

The letter said, “I am writing to you at a moment of deep distress for lakhs of Bengal gram (chana) growers in Karnataka, whose livelihoods are facing a severe and immediate crisis during the current Rabi Marketing season.”

Bengal gram is one of the principal pulse crop of Karnataka, cultivated across 9.24 lakh hectares with an estimated production of 6.27 lakh metric tonnes. It sustains farmers across regions such as Dharwad, Gadag, Belagavi, Vijayapura, Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Bidar, Raichur, Koppal, Ballari, Chitradurga, Bagalkot, Davanagere and Chikkamagaluru. For these farmers, many of them small and marginal, the Bengal gram harvest represents the sole source of income after months of hard labour under uncertain climatic conditions.

“However, I wish to draw your urgent attention to alarming market situation prevailing in the state. Despite the government of India declaring an MSP of Rs 5,875 per quintal for Bengal gram for Rabi Marketing Season 2026-27, the prevailing market prices across major APMCs in Karnataka are significantly below MSP, even before peak arrivals have begun. With the harvest intensifying between January and March, there is genuine apprehension of further price collapse, aggravating rural distress,” it read.

This price erosion is not merely a market aberration, it is a human crisis. When the declared MSP does not translate into real procurement on the ground, it erodes farmers’ faith in the institutional framework meant to protect them. Many growers, burdened by input costs, credit obligations and household needs, are being pushed into distress sales at the very moment when public intervention is most needed.”

The letter has also been sent to the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

–IANS

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