Bhopal: When Madhya Pradesh farmer Ashok Lonvanshi harvested 200 quintals of wheat from his 15-acre farm in Dewas district in March, he rushed to a private mandi and sold the entire stock at the market rate of Rs 2,300 a quintal. What seems surprising is that Lonvanshi made this choice despite the MP government offering a higher Minimum Support Price of Rs 2,400, inclusive of a Rs 125 bonus.
For Lonvanshi, the driving force behind his decision was the need for immediate cash. “My elder son was getting married and we needed cash. Even if we sold to the government, we would get money only after a month or so,” he said. “For us, it was better to sell at Rs 100 less and get instant money instead of waiting for a month.”
Lonvanshi’s decision is not unique. Thousands of other farmers in MP have also opted for private mandis over government procurement centres, even with the bonus. The only other state offering such a perk—which raises the MSP of wheat from Rs 2,275 to Rs 2,400—is Rajasthan.
This year, MP became the only state among other major wheat producers to register a major drop in procurement. From the 70.69 lakh metric tonnes it had procured in 2023-24 (at an MSP of 2,125 per quintal), it recorded a 32 percent drop to only 47.69 lakh metric tonnes in 2024-2025.
This has impacted the overall collection for the central pool by the Food Corporation of India (FCI), which currently stands at 261 LMT, falling some 29 percent short of their target of 370 LMT.
The low procurement has had the central government worried, as with a good crop cycle, the FCI was looking to boost central wheat stocks for better market interventions alongside meeting the requirement under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).
“There is currently enough stock to meet the PDS (public distribution system) needs and also for market intervention,” said a central government offical, speaking on condition of anonymity. “However, whether the government needs to import wheat for better price control will be determined in the days to come.”
While the reasons for this have been pegged largely to farmers hoarding stocks and private traders ramping up their buying at better rates than MSP, in Madhya Pradesh the government prices are higher than elsewhere due to the bonus.
Despite this, procurement has been higher in other states. For instance, procurement in Uttar Pradesh increased from 2.19 lakh metric tonne (LMT) in 2023-24 to 8.92 LMT in 2024-25, while in Rajasthan it rose from 4.37 LMT in 2023-24 to 9.60 LMT in 2024-25. Further north, Punjab and Haryana procured 71 and 123.86 LMT respectively, up from 63 LMT and 120 LMT each the previous year.
MP farmers who spoke to ThePrint cited various reasons for choosing private mandis—delayed payments, uncertainty about receiving the promised bonus, and competitive rates.
ThePrint contacted Ravindra Singh, the commissioner and director of Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection in Madhya Pradesh, via calls and messages, but has not yet received a response. This report will be updated upon receiving a reply.
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‘Delayed’ payments, lower yield
In a freshly harvested wheat field in Dewas, farmer Arun Kalirana expressed a sentiment shared by many—a preference for cash in hand rather than waiting for uncertain government promises. He cited the previous BJP government under Shivraj Singh Chouhan, which announced a bonus in 2018 but never delivered, leaving farmers wary.
While the newly elected BJP government under CM Mohan Yadav approved the Rs 125 bonus on 11 March, farmers are still sceptical, especially due to delays in receiving the money.
“Despite selling the wheat around March 20, my payment came a month later. I had to sell the 85 quintals of my stock to repay debt to the farmer society which is why I sold it to the government, but not all farmers have this compulsion,” Kalirana said.
According to food procurement data accessed by ThePrint, Madhya Pradesh is the worst-performing state when it comes to disbursal of payment to farmers, taking an average of 243 hours, or 10 days, to process payments. Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan are the second-worst performers, delaying payments by 50 hours after purchase.
Meanwhile, in Rewa, farmers who sold their wheat last week have received their base payment but claim they haven’t received the promised bonus.
“Our billing for 17 quintals that we sold to the society was done at Rs 2,400 per quintal, but we received payment only at the rate of Rs 2,225 per quintal so far,” said Rewa wheat farmer Arvind Pandey. He plans a trip to the procurement centre to get clarity over the pending bonus repayment.
Another Rewa farmer, Chandra Bali Singh, said a failure to deliver the bonus would leave thousands like him feeling cheated.
“We were getting Rs 2,300 per quintal for the Tejas variety of wheat in the private mandi, but with the MSP coming to Rs 2,400, we sold it off to the government,” he added.
This wheat harvest has already been discouraging for farmers in the Malwa region of MP.
“Our production is down by half, which is already hurting us in this season. If the government does not end up paying the bonus, then we will be at loss,” Singh said.
In neighbouring Mandsaur district, farmers attributed poor yields to fog and water scarcity. This, they claimed, limited their harvest to what they needed for their own consumption, leaving nothing to sell in the market.
“We had sowed the Lokwan variety of wheat but the paucity of water coupled with fog during the flowering period of the wheat adversely affected the crop yield. We did not have enough to sell at the centres,” said Mandsaur farmer Dilip Patidar. Like other farmers in his village, he is now shifting his focus to crops like garlic and coriander instead of wheat.
However, Dr JB Singh, head principal scientist at the Indian Agriculture Research Institute in Indore, said the fog in December affected harvests for farmers who sowed in early October, but the overall decline in wheat production was minimal.
“Ideally, farmers should sow around October 20 to have maximum production. Farmers who sowed in the first week of October have been hit the most. But the overall drop in wheat yield is about 3-4 percent and has negligible impact on overall production,” he said.
High price hopes
The prospect of delayed payments is not the only factor deterring farmers from selling to the government. The desire for better rates in private mandis for certain wheat varieties is a major reason too, according to Yogendra Dwivedi, CEO of the Madhya Bharat consortium of farmer-producer organisations (FPOs) that works with the MP government to run procurement centres.
“In MP, the farmers produce higher quality wheat such as Sharbati, which receives much higher rates in mandis. This is why the turnout is lower at state procurement centres. As far as the delay in payment and other hassles of procurement are concerned, it is the same every year,” he told ThePrint.
Some farmers are also holding onto their wheat in hopes of even better prices later in the season. For instance, Maninder Bullar, a farmer from Ashoknagar’s Chanderi district, said he plans to sell the wheat he grew on his 12 bighas of land only when prices increase.
“There is no doubt that prices will improve by the month of July, so it is better to wait it out instead of selling now,” Bullar added.
Meanwhile, the procurement dip in MP—which has even surpassed Punjab with a record-high procurement of 125 LMT in 2020-21—is being closely watched by the central government.
On 23 April, the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution issued a letter to the MP government, relaxing quality rules for wheat procured by the government due to crop damage from unseasonal hailstorms and rainfall.
Despite this, low procurement levels led the government to extend the procurement deadline to 31 May. Previously, the procurement window was scheduled to close on 10 May in Rajasthan and 15 May in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and Bihar.
As of 1 May, wheat stocks in government warehouses were down 10.3 percent year on year to their lowest since 2008.
However, Diwedi argued that importing wheat was not the solution. “There is sufficient wheat produced in India,” he said. “If the government was keen on increasing its procurement, it should have increased the bonus and made their rates more attractive for the farmers.”
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