Farmers in this major arhar-producing district of Maharashtra have reasons to be unhappy with the turn of events in the last one year. After realising prices ranging from Rs 8,000 to as high as Rs 9,500 per quintal last January-February, they have had to sell their crop in the current harvesting season at Rs 4,000-4,500. Worse, the rates haven’t improved even after the peak arrival period is over. Open market prices, if at all, have only fallen further to Rs 4,000 per quintal or below now, dashing the hopes of those who thought it better to hold on rather than sell in January-February. Farmers have also faced a tough time while seeking to sell to the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed), the official agency tasked with procurement of arhar at the Centre’s declared minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 5,050 per quintal. “The arrangements they made for purchase of our crop were pathetic. There was no staff or labourers in their centres to weigh the produce. Nor did they have any bardanas (jute bags) to pack the procured produce,” says Suresh Deshmukh. This 66-year-old from Pusda village in Amravati taluka is yet to sell the 28 quintals of arhar harvested from his 15-acre rainfed farm. His friend Babasaheb Deshmukh tills 40 acres, 10 of which are irrigated. He, too, is yet to sell the 100 quintals of his arhar grown on 30 acres. “Last year, we fetched up to Rs 9,500 per quintal. This year, it started at around Rs 4,500 in February and is currently hovering around Rs 4,000 per quintal. I will sell if prices go up to Rs 4,500, maybe in two months time, though there is no guarantee,” he states. But why not sell to Nafed at the MSP? For this, the two friends have a ready answer. “Whatever Nafed has been procuring is largely from traders, who have purchased the produce from farmers. They have sold it to Nafed by using farmers’ 7/12 extracts (a document from the revenue department establishing ownership of land),” they allege, while pointing to Nafed’s purchase centre at Pusda, which is a sprawling courtyard of a private mansion wearing a deserted look. Some idea of the state of official procurement can be had from 53-year-old Pandit Thakre, who has stacked his 25 quintals of arhar at Nafed’s purchase centre within the premises of the APMC (agriculture produce market committee) mandi in Amravati city. “There are more than 3,000 lots of farmers’ produce now awaiting purchase. My number is 2,064 and I’ve been going there daily to see what’s happening. They have started weighing the produce only from Saturday. My turn should hopefully come in a couple of days’ time,” remarks this farmer from Tembha village, which is in Amravati taluka. “I kept my produce with Nafed for two months till March-end. But since they were not procuring, I was left with no choice other than take it away and sell in the open market at Rs 4,100 per quintal. The tadpatri (tarpaulin sheet) with which I covered my crop also got damaged, resulting in a loss of Rs 5,000 to me,” complains 30-year Gajanan Thakre, who farms 55 acres — 25 of his own and 30 hired — in the same village. For both these farmers, the price collapse has been a double-whammy, coming on top of crop damage due to excessive rains. Pandit Thakre was able to harvest 70 quintals of arhar from his 15 acres last year, compared with only 25 quintals this time. Gajanan got 60 quintals from 11 acres last time and the same yield from 30 acres in the current season. At Chincholi Kale village of Amravati’s Chandurbazar taluka, Vasudeorao Ingle sold roughly 11 quintals of arhar from his 3.5-acre rainfed farm for Rs 4,300 immediately after harvesting. “I needed the money and couldn’t have waited for Nafed,” he points out. A similar story is told by another small farmer, Siddharth Baraskar. He was forced to sell the entire three quintals crop from his 2.5 acres at Wathonda village in the same taluka for Rs 3,900 per quintal a month ago, compared with last year’s Rs 8,500 realisation. Baraskar, too, blames Nafed’s shoddy procurement system for his fate. In contrast to him is fellow villager Rajendra Thakre, who has better holding capacity. This 10-acre farmer is prepared to wait a little longer before selling the 50 quintals of arhar stocked up in his home: “I hope prices will recover at some point”. The significant part, though, is that for all their bitter experience, farmers in this belt are still willing to plant arhar in the ensuing kharif season. The main reason here is its ease of cultivation and suitability for intercropping. Farmers in Vidarbha normally sow arhar in June (after the arrival of the monsoon rains) and it is planted as an intercrop along with either soybean or cotton. In recent times, the preference has been more towards arhar-soybean, as the latter is a short-duration crop harvested towards end-September. That, then, allows farmers to grow a second chana (chickpea) crop with arhar, which is harvested only from January. The bigger farmers, however, grow arhar also with cotton, which is a more input-intensive crop. “For us, whatever we earn from arhar is a bonus. Last year’s Rs 9,000 per quintal rates were abnormal and you cannot expect that every year,” is Gajanan Thakre’s take. He claims to have more than made up for his losses from arhar by harvesting 200 quintals of chana from 25 acres and 180 quintals of Bt cotton from 12 acres. Big or small, most farmers in Vidarbha are likely to sow arhar yet again this time.
