COTTON SELLS BELOW MSP IN MALWA
BITTER HARVEST Central procurement agency officials not in mandis; private buyers have a field day
BATHINDA:Cotton started arriving in mandis in Bathinda, Mansa, Fazilka and Muktsar districts about a week ago, but it has been a bitter harvest for farmers.
Officials of the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI), the central agency responsible for procurement, are not in the field in these four districts. This means that private purchasers are having a field day and farmers are forced to sell their crop at much lower rates than the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of ₹5,350 per quintal. This year, the average yield of the crop is 770kg per hectare, which is considered good.
A visit to Goniana Mandi near Bathinda showed that a group of private buyers, some of them commission agents or arhtiyas themselves, were negotiating and finalising deals with farmers. Deals were being settled for a rate as low as ₹4,930 per quintal, without following any mechanism to assess the moisture content, officially a key parameter to decide the MSP.
The official rates are ₹5,136 per quintal for a crop with moisture between 8-12%. Crop with up to 8% moisture content is to be sold at a MSP of ₹5,350/quintal.
When questioned on the arbitrary way in which the crop was being sold without assessing the moisture content, an agent told HT, “It is the job of the CCI and the Mandi Board.” This agent refused to disclose his name, but the farmer, Babu Singh, said, “I have no objection.”
Babu added that he owed lakhs of rupees to commission agents and his failure to sell the crop at the rate he dictated would mean his produce would go unsold. Officially, the CCI is mandated to ensure that all purchases happen under the rules at the MSP and even lift arrivals that private buyers do not take.
Goniana Marketing Board secretary Manish Kumar said the onus was on CCI officials as they remained missing from the mandis.
CCI deputy manager Neeraj Kumar said, “We have been facing a severe staff crunch for the Bathinda zone. We have 10 marketing officials for 19 mandis.” He added they had been writing to headquarters for enough staff strength to no avail.
FARMERS’ FEARS
A deeper look at the issue showed that cotton growers, who are by and large small and marginal farmers, are heavily indebted to banks and, thus, avoid selling to the CCI as the agency deposits payment to the bank account of the seller. Farmers fear that banks would deduct the loan instalment, leaving them with nothing. They also fear that arhtiyas would not finance them the next season, if they did not sell at lower rates.
“If we do not sell the crop at a lower price to the private purchasers, then who would finance us for the next sowing season?” said Angrez Singh, another farmer.