Land record of 40% farmers yet to be integrated
CHANDIGARH : With the Centre pushing for mandatory land record integration with food grain procurement from this kharif season (October and November), the Punjab government has, to date, completed this process for only 60% of 10.5 lakh farmers in the state.
Compilation of details of the remaining 40% farmers is a challenge, as clear and authentic data on farmers engaged in agriculture on leased land is not available. “From September, we will start camps in mandis along with the arhtiyas to get the remaining data. There are 33,000 arhtiyas and all farmers are linked to them. We want data to be matched before the start of (kharif) procurement,” said an officer of the food department.
The Centre has made it compulsory for Punjab to carry out procurement after taking land details from farmers, who will get their payment (MSP) for their produce (wheat and paddy), only when the revenue record of their agriculture land is linked to the Public Finance Management System (PFMS).
In rabi (wheat) procurement season this year, the state had implemented the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system, through PFMS, by transferring crop payment directly into farmers’ bank account, bypassing the traditional system of routing payment through the arhtiyas (commission agents).
Inter-departmental process
Other than food and civil supplies department, the state’s revenue and agriculture departments, the state mandi board, Punjab Remote Sensing Centre and arhtiyas need to coordinate to ensure accurate matching of records. The state needs to match the PFMS, land record of the revenue department and the mandi board. The mandi board has the data as it prints J-forms to authenticate the sale of farmers’ produce. “It is a tedious process, but we have to implement it,” said a senior officer of state food department.
During wheat procurement, the implementation of the DBT showed that there were 9.5 lakh farmers in the state. The number, however, is expected to go up in the paddy season as a greater number of farmers sell their produce to government agencies, unlike wheat, when private companies also make purchases. “The data management task is huge, as there 40 lakh Khewats, and matching it with procurement data is a tedious task. Errors may creep in. Another thing is that a large number of farmers are doing it on leased land, of which no data is available. In most cases, lease arrangement is through word of mouth. Still, we hope to complete the process before paddy procurement starts,” said principal secretary, food, Rahul Tiwari.