In crop glut, a story of sinking prices and despair for farmer
PROBLEM OF PLENTY Farmers are struggling to recover production cost after bumper crop in state
This isn’t a good time to be a farmer in Rajasthan. Riding on a good monsoon last year, the desert state has recorded its best ever production of pulses, spices, vegetables, and garlic.
This bumper crop, however, has turned into a bane for the farmers who are now struggling to recover even the production cost. The glut has led to a slump in prices.
Sample this: Rajasthan farmers have reaped 33.3 lakh tonnes of pulses in 2016-17, registering a hike of 67.33 per cent over the 19.9 lakh tonnes they had harvested the year before.
At 14.2 lakh tonnes, the production of spices registered 35.23 per cent increase over the 10.5 lakh tonnes it had reaped in 2015-16.
The sharpest spike of 120.15% was seen in garlic production --8.30 lakh tonne in 2016-17 compared to 3.77 lakh tonne a year ago.
The production of oilseeds reached 63.89 lakh tonnes --- an increase by 16.05 per cent over previous year’s 55.05 lak tonne. The production of fruits and vegetables too registered an increase of 24.73 per cent and 0.24 per cent, respectively.
The farmers, however, instead of rejoicing, are a worried lot. Apart from falling prices, paucity of storage facilities and no minimum support price (MSP) for vegetables has compounded their woes. The MSP system covers only 14 of the 51 major crops – mostly paddy, wheat, and cereals.
“Be it a bumper crop or poor produce, it’s the farmer who dies. The market moves only on the basis of profit – purchasing at lowest possible rate and selling to consumers at high prices. The market system is against the farmers,” says Rampal Jat, president, Kisan Mahapanchayat.
Rampal’s hammers home his point with a concrete fact.
“Farmers are selling moong dal (pulses) at ₹3,600 per quintal to middlemen despite the fact that its MSP was fixed at ₹5,225 (per quintal). The government procured only 13 per cent of the total pulses produced. The farmer cannot even recover the cost of production,” the farmer leader adds.
Ramkishan Meena, a garlic farmer from Sandri village of Bundi district has sold 60 quintals of the produce at throw-away prices.
“Owing to bumper crop, this year the average price of garlic was between ₹23 to ₹27 per kg. Last year (2015-16), it was between ₹60 to ₹90 per kg,” says Meena.
The farmers were hoping to finally earn some profit riding on the record produce.
Their hopes stand dashed. Narsi Bishnoi, a farmer from Ganganagar district of Rajast- Crop details PULSES
OIL SEEDS SPICES FRUITS VEGETABLES GARLIC ORANGE Production (Lakh Metric Ton ) 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 23.53 19.55 24.71 19.5 57.65 63.71 60.41 53.21
9.54 3.82 12.27 2.38 1.06 han, was excited at the good harvest of mustard and pulses. He is now dejected. “The MSP for chana dal is ₹4,700 per quintal, but we are getting only ₹ 4,150. Similar is the case with moong dal. At these rates, we are not even getting the cost of production,” Bishnoi says.
The Reserve Bank of India too had said recently the market price of pulses were well below the MSP.
State president of Bharatiya Kisan Union, Nem Singh, says the bumper production has failed to transform into bumper profits for farmers. “The prices of electricity, fertilizer and even diesel have increased but not of the crops,” he says.
Incidentally, for state agriculture minister Prabhu Lal Saini,
7.05 5.59 8.78 1.84 2.12
6.68 6.55 11.14 2.18 2.30
6.09 7.33 14.33 1.72 2.64 bumper produce means yet another chance to secure a central government award for crop productivity.
He remains silent on some demands that the farmers have been making.
“The state has registered all time high production of pulses, oil seeds, spices, fruits, vegetables, garlic and oranges. We hope to receive the production and productivity award for pulses and spices, as we received for grains last year,” he says while speaking to the Hindustan Times.
Saini pats own department’s back for increase in production. “The reason is diversification of crops. Looking at the climatic changes in last few years, the department held training workshops and organised exposure visits for farmers. The sowing area of pulses was increased to 30 lakh hectares from 13 lakh hectare,” he says.
The minister further adds that better extension of services and easy access to fertilizers too contributed to record production. “In addition to this, we achieved 90 per cent of the financial targets leading to effective intervention for the farmers and facilitating the record production,” he adds.
Chandigarh-based agricultural scientist Devendra Sharma says the bumper crop should translate into good profits for farmers but this was not the reality. “Whenever there is a record harvest, the prices crash and farmers suffer. They only earn some profit, when the production is low,” he says.
Meanwhile, as farmer protest rages on in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, Rampal Jat has announced that the farmer bodies in state will continue to fight for their rights.
“We will continue to fight for our demands. We have presented a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje apprising them about the issues of farmers. We want farmers to be free from all kinds of loans and the government should implement Kisan Commission 2004 report from August 15, 2007. The Centre should also get Farmers’ Income and Pricing Guarantee Bill 2012 passed,” he said.
Former MLA and All India Kisan Sabha state president Pemaram had recently said that problem of farmers in Rajasthan are same as that of those in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. “We also want higher prices for milk, hike in MSP and loan waiver,” he had said.