At a snail’s pace

Farmers in Haryana are upset with sluggish procurement and also are anxious about the entry of paddy from UP, Rajasthan

Satish Singh, a farmer from Shamli district of western UP, who went to Haryana to sell his produce after learning about the farm Bills receiving the president’s approval, feels double-crossed. The Haryana government has prohibited him from doing so.

“The prime minister said these Bills were for free trade in crops, but why then is the Haryana government stopping us? We go to Haryana because the UP government never buys our produce. Every year we sell our crops to private buyers at a loss of ~500-600 per quintal,” said Singh.

Many like Singh said the Haryana government’s decision was unfair and would rob the farmers of their right to sell their produce anywhere they wanted. Not just farmers from UP, even those in Haryana are upset with the state government’s poor pace of procuring crops. “I have been waiting my turn (to sell my produce) for the past several days, but nobody has purchased even my 1 kg of paddy,” said Rampal Muley, a farmer in Karnal. “Eighty per cent of the MLAS in Haryana are farmers but not one is talking about our plight.”

P K Das, additional chief secretary, food and civil supplies, said in eight districts of Haryana where the procurement process was on, only 11,895 tonnes of paddy had been bought by government agencies and rice millers (until October 1), against the arrival of 45,000 tonnes since September 26.

After the farm Bills, which promise barrierfree trade and prices of farmers’ choice, became law, farmers started demonstrations in Kurukshetra, Karnal, Kaithal, Yamunanagar, and Ambala against the possibility of non-procurement of paddy. They threatened to block the Delhi-ambala National Highway if state purchase did not start soon.

Farmers in UP, too, have been protesting the Haryana government’s decision of not allowing them to sell paddy in state mandis. The Haryana government later allowed those selling basmati to enter the state because there is no minimum support price (MSP) set for this variety.

Every year, farmers in western UP cross the border to sell their produce in Haryana mandis because it fetches lower rates in their home state. The robust procurement infrastructure is one of the main reasons why UP farmers travel 30-40 km to sell. For the 2019-20 kharif season, Haryana procured

4.30 million tonnes of paddy of the estimated production of 4.82 million tonne. This has a decisive edge over the 3.79 million tonnes procured by the UP government of its 15.52 million tonnes of estimated production, according to the Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD) data.

Former Union agriculture minister Sompal Singh Shastri said the farmers of western UP had little chance of getting the MSP, because the procurement done by the state government mandis was very low. “The farmers go to Haryana because it has a robust procurement infrastructure as compared to western UP.”

According to the DFPD data, in 2019-20 UP, with a 13.16 per cent share in the country’s rice production, has surpassed West Bengal in becoming the country’s largest rice-producing state. But its share in the Centre’s procurement was just 7.4 per cent. The UP government procured 24.41 per cent of its production, against 89.2 per cent in Haryana.

Fearing a mass protest against the state government, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar last week assured the farmers of hassle-free purchase and increased the limit of procurement per acre from 25 quintal to 30 quintal, with a provision of buying 10 per cent extra.

However, farmers in Haryana are anxious about the entry of paddy from UP and Rajasthan. They fear a curtailment in the state’s purchase of their share. Moreover, procurement hasn’t picked up even after five days since it began on September 26.

Farmers are accusing arhtiyas (commission agents) of not buying their crops on time and short-changing them by tying up with rice millers and government officials.

Amit Mehla, a farmer from Baldi village in Karnal, who is waiting his turn at the Karnal mandi for the past six days to sell his 8-acre paddy, is worried about his chances of getting the MSP. With a touch of disappointment, he blames the arhtiyas for delaying procurement. “How long will I be sitting here? After some time, we will start selling it to private buyers, or else the paddy will lose its moisture,” he said. Rattan Singh Mann, president, Bharatiya Kisan Union, Haryana, said the government was running away from its responsibility of procuring paddy. “If this government does not listen to the farmers’ cries, it will face consequences in the coming years. Farmers will not forget or forgive.”

Against total arrival of 45,000 tonne in mandis since September 26, government agencies and rice millers have procured only 11,895 tonne of paddy