Rabi crop prices likely to decide course of ongoing farm protest

With farmers taking to the streets and a bumper crop expected, it is unlikely that there will be any let up in wheat procurement in the 2021-22 marketing season

As the farmers’ agitation at Delhi’s borders enters its fourth month, prices farmers get in the forthcoming rabi harvest could determine their future course of action. A sharp dip in prices could further fan discontent.

Wheat, mustard, and chana are the main crops that will be harvested in the next few weeks. All of these are majorly grown in the hotbeds of the agitation — Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, parts of Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh. In case of wheat, which is the biggest cereal grown in the rabi season, as a bulk of the produce in these parts is procured by