Rajasthan, the top producer of the Kharif season’s moong (green gram), has reported arrival of nearly 63,000 tonnes of the pulse crop from the fresh harvest since September 1 and it is nearly 10 times higher than the year-ago period. But farmers on an average have realised ₹7,452/quintal, which is lower by 15 per cent from its minimum support price of ₹8,780/quintal.

Now that farmers complain about not receiving enough realisation and the government also effected the lowest increase (0.1 per cent) in moong MSP among all the Kharif crops for the 2026-27 season, leaders are thinking of creating an awareness campaign like mustard to improve realisation and if needed there may be a reduction in area next season.

According to Agmarknet portal data, the average price at various mandis (agriculture market yards) in Rajasthan was about ₹7,000/quintal at the beginning of the month and strengthened to ₹7,960/quintal on September 17.

While some experts attribute the current price of moong as “not that bad” in view of the high level of arrival of the crop compared with the last two seasons. Official data show total arrivals during September 1-18 were 6,451 tonnes in 2025 and 7,574 tonnes in 2024.

On the other hand, Rampal Jat, President of Kisan Mahapanchayat, said that only ₹12/quintal was the hike in moong MSP for this year and it is unfortunate that the government fails to even ensure that farmers are able to sell the crop at the official benchmark rate. He criticised the procurement scheme saying it should be automatic like FCI buys wheat and paddy, rather than seeking a request from the state government. “If the crop matures early, should farmers wait to sell till the government declares its procurement season,” Jat asked and suggested the Centre make changes in the guidelines.

“Either you buy through your own agencies – Nafed and NCCF without waiting for the State’s request, or give independence to states to decide date and quantity of procurement,” he suggested to the Union Agriculture Ministry. He also said that he would persuade farmers to shift to some better alternative crops wherever those are economically viable as lower area may help them to fetch better rates.

The state government had fixed the targeted area under moong in the current Kharif season at 26.50 lakh hectares (lh) after the area rose to 26.57 lh in 2025. However, the sowing area under the crop ended at 13 per cent below target at 23.17 lh this year. There is another local variety of moong called moth, whose acreage also missed the target of 10 lh and ended at 9.12 lh this year, but higher than 8.59 lh of 2025. Rajasthan’s moong production in Kharif 2025 was 13.89 lakh tonnes (lt) and 72 per cent share in the crop’s national production.

Jat said that farmers are incurring losses ranging from ₹1,280 to ₹3,200 per quintal and based on the arrivals, they could have earned up to ₹14.4 crore additional had the MSP procurement commenced early. Pointing out that for the past several years, farmers have been submitting requests to both state and central governments to advance moong procurement from September 1, but the repeated appeals have not been accepted.

He also said that cooperative agency Nafed is selling moong (stored from previous years) at ₹6,500 per quintal which is depressing current market rates below the MSP level.

Published on September 20, 2026