By amending Model Mandi Act, MP has pushed its agricultural sector into throes of uncertainty The state has posted high growth rates in the agricultural sector in recent years, but the growth has been skewed in favour of the state's irrigated parts and a small number of crops. Written by Sunit Arora | Updated: December 21, 2020 6:34:15 pm A reduction in mandi cess on the traders from 1.7 per cent to 0.5 per cent in October this year has weakened the revenue-generating capacity of the mandis. Madhya Pradesh is primarily an agricultural state. One third of its gross state domestic product comes from this sector, half of the state’s area is used for cultivation, and 70 per cent of the total workers and 85 per cent of the rural workers are dependent on agriculture for livelihood (“Madhya Pradesh Agriculture Economic Survey” 2016). The state has posted high growth rates in the agricultural sector in recent years, but the growth has been skewed in favour of the state’s irrigated parts and a small number of crops. High agricultural growth has, thus, been accompanied by an increase in the number of farmer suicides and regular incidents of dumping of unsold produce on the highways by farmers due to sharp declines in prices. Farmer agitations, taking place at frequent intervals in the state, have, however, failed to attract national attention, barring the 2017 Mandsaur incident in which five protesting farmers died.