‘No scope for manipulation in Bhavantar scheme’

Madhya Pradesh (MP) goes to the polls towards the end of 2018. The state government of late has been facing flak for its handling of agriculture and farmer-related issues. The latest is its decision to hold back chana, masur and mustard from the Price Deficiency Payment Scheme (Bhavantar) weeks after it was expanded. In an interview, Chief Minister SHIVRAJ SINGH CHOUHAN tells Sanjeeb Mukherjee the crops have been temporarily removed, pending the national roll-out. Excerpts: You have taken out chana, masur and mustard, three main rabi crops, from the much-talked-about Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana (BBY), triggering allegation that the scheme has been put on hold. The BBY has been appreciated by the central government and Prime Minister NarendraModi. A group of ministers has been constituted under Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and it is studying various procurement models, including the yojana. Various states have studied the scheme and have found it appropriate. But I thought the yojana should be taken forward only after it is implemented nationally because then all the states will get funds from the Centre. Or else, only MP will have to bear the financial burden of the programme. That is why we have temporarily taken out chana, masur and mustard fromthe yojana. And we will now purchase these crops through the Centre’s Price Support Scheme. In any case, farmers do not stand to lose.

A big allegation against the yojana is that traders have hijacked the scheme, which is also a reason why you have partially suspended it.

The process is transparent. We first registered the farmers, with full details of the land held, the names and quantities of the crops sown, etc, and the details were verified. We did not stop at that. All the records were then fed into computers and digitally stored, including details such as the farmer’s name, the land in his name, the area in which the crop has been sown, the maximum production of that crop in the district, etc. Also, he was not allowed to sell the crop… it had to match his landholding and sown area. Thereafter, even the difference was sent to the bank accounts of farmers directly and was not given to traders. We have put in checks and balances and hence there is very little scope for manipulation.

There have been allegations of price manipulation in soybean and urad during the period when the Bhavantar window was open.

WE ARE ALSO EXPLORING OPTIONS TO INCENTIVISE AGRICULTURE EXPORTS FROM MADHYA PRADESH TO ENSURE LONG-TERM PRICE GAINS FOR FARMERS. ONCE WE MANAGE TO SET ALL THESE UP, WE WON’T NEED PRICE SUPPORT SCHEMES”

In the case of soybean, there was no Bhavantar in Maharashtra and Rajasthan, but in MP there was. Soybean was selling for at least ~50 per quintal more in MP than in Maharashtra while there was not much price difference between soybean sold in MP and Rajasthan.

Only in the case of urad was there some price gap between the crop grown in MP and Uttar Pradesh (UP), but that was mainly because of quality difference. In MP, the urad crop suffered owing to the late monsoons, which is why there was a price difference of around ~500 per quintal. Also, historically UP has better-quality urad than in MP. Even the data from the previous four years shows that urad prices in UP had been more than in MP. So all these allegations of traders manipulating the scheme are unfounded.

Will you employ any agency to analyse the merits and demerits of the scheme?

The MP government has made the scheme and the NITI Aayog has closely studied it. Kerala and Rajasthan, among others, too have studied the scheme and found it suitable.

MP recently lost its plea for getting GI (geographical indication) for basmati grown in the state. Do you think you were not able to put forward your claims properly?

MP deserves the GI tag for basmati grown in the state because it has been cultivating it for more than 100 years and has exported basmati rice worth around ~30 billion. We have challenged the order of the central registry in court. I have met senior ministers including Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu and Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh and all of them support MP’s claims. I’m confident we will get the GI tag.

MP has been facing consecutive years of fall in farm prices, which, some say, is due to bumper production. The latest facing price fall is chana. How do you plan to address this?

Not only chana, in other crops also there has been a bumper harvest. In fact, the problem in MP is bumper harvest. We first ensured farmers got adequate water and fertilisers in time, which has led to the bumper harvest, and this is a matter of joy and pride for us, but is also problematic when prices fall. This (price fall) is a temporary problem and I’m confident of tiding over this. We are setting up an agency like the Agricultural and Processed Food Product Export Development Authority in MP. Price support measures are temporary. In the long run, we need to promote value addition and food processing in agriculture, for which we have implemented a food processing policy. We are also exploring options of incentivising agricultural exports from MP. Once we put these in place, we won’t need price support schemes.

Madhya Pradesh has announced a bonus of ~265 per quintal above the Centre-determined minimum support price (MSP). How do you see this?

First and foremost, we have not announced any bonus over and above the MSP. We are buying wheat at the MSP rate of ~1,735 per quintal, nothing more. But in 2017, there was drought in some parts of MP and in recognition of the hard labour put in by farmers, we have framed a scheme, which is not connected with the MSP.

Under this scheme, called the Mukhyamantri Kisan Samriddhi Yojana (Chief Minister Farmers’ Promotion Scheme), we are giving an incentive of ~265 per quintal to wheat farmers irrespective of whether he sells at the MSP or not. So if a farmer sells wheat at ~2,200 per quintal outside the MSP system to a private trader, he will get an incentive of ~265 per quintal.

Farmers’ suicides have been rising in MP. What is your view on this?

All I can say is that the death of a single farmer for whatever reason is amatter of grave concern for us and we would do everything possible to end this.

MP is going to the polls in the next few months and you have been at the helm for almost 12 years. How confident are you of winning the elections, given that there is resurgence in Congress and also a realignment of political forces?

I work for the welfare of people and am not concerned with any sort of political realignment. We are confident of forming the next government in MP.