MAHARASHTRA: QUICKENING PULSE
Farmers are incensed with the slow procurement of a crop they were asked to sow
Farmers across Maharashtra, and especially from the Marathwada region, are reportedly furious with the Devendra Fadnavis government for its slow procurement of tur dal (pigeon pea) in the current season. Thousands of cultivators, who had responded to the state government’s appeal to plant more pulses in the wake of the dire shortage and spiralling prices caused by the drought last year, now say that they are feeling cheated.
Aided by a good monsoon, there’s been a bumper crop this year from the increased area under tur cultivation—1,394,300 hectares—a rise of 163 per cent. Unfortunately, the Fadnavis government’s failure to purchase adequate quantities at the promised support price of Rs 5,050 per quintal has led to distress selling by beleaguered farmers. Private traders are offering far less—between Rs 2,600 and Rs 3,000 per quintal.
The chief minister’s recent announcement that government purchase centres will remain open for as long as it takes to procure the entire harvest has brought little comfort to the harassed farmers sweating in out in sinuous queues
while waiting to sell their crop.
Till now, the government has procured 1,000,000 quintals, which is barely 20 per cent of this year’s total production. Farmers complain that there aren’t enough purchase centres. Uttam Shelke,a farmer from Latur, says it took him a whole week to sell his produce. He says many farmers who cannot afford to wait for extended periods are being forced to sell to private traders.
The Centre’s decade-old ban on the export of pulses has also contributed to the problem. In February this year, the Indian Pulses and Grain Association submitted a representation to commerce secretary Rita Teaotia, demanding a lift of the ban on exports of pulses. A reply from the government is still pending. The issue has also assumed political colours, with the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana (SSS), an ally of Maharashtra’s ruling dispensation, launching an agitation on the issue. On March 7, SSS workers demonstrated by dumping several tonnes of pulses and onions outside the premises of the state assembly. Both agriculture minister
Pandurang Phundkar and marketing minister Subhash Deshmukh insist that the state government is sensitive to the problem. But neither has offered any real solutions.
SSS WORKERS DEMONSTRATED BY DUMPING TONNES OF PULSES OUTSIDE THE ASSEMBLY