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Journalism of Courage
Last year a Vikas Farmer Producer Company (FPC) in the village of Takli (B) in Maharashtra managed to procure around 5,000 tonnes of chana (Bengal gram) on behalf of the National Cooperative Agricultural Marketing Federation (NAFED) from more than 3,000 farmers located in the area in Latur district. This season, the procurement is to start on March 14 and end on June 11. However, the FPC has not been selected to procure the pulse even as its price continues to remain well below the government-declared Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 5,335 for one quintal. The nearest procurement centre for our farmers would be around 20 kms away, said Vilas Uphade, the director of this FPC.
What has surprised farmers is the manner in which procurement centres have been allotted. “In many cases the centres which are chosen do not even have the necessary infrastructure to store or weigh the arrivals. We are surprised how they will help farmers,” Uphade exclaimed.
At the start of the procurement season, Maharashtra farmers and officials are worried about the procurement process. The state has been given a target of 8.10 lakh tonnes which officials say is more than the 25 per cent quota given to other states. But the bigger question is the “crowding” in the procurement operation which agencies say would lead to problems of credibility later on.
For Maharashtra, seven State Level Agencies (SLAs) have been given the task of procurement, which senior central government officials said was the highest reported from any state. The SLAs are sub-agencies designated by the central agencies, who through their grass-root level members carry out the actual procurement.
What has raised the concerns of farmers like Uphade as well as of officials is how well will the procurement go ahead. On the ground, Maharashtra would see 604 procurement centres. But as Uphade said in many cases in the Latur district, the procurement centre lacks even the basic infrastructure needed to carry out the procurement. “What parameters were chosen to allocate the centres remains a mystery,” said Uphade.
Farmers desirous of selling their ware have to pre-register with details like their Aadhaar card, 7/12 land extracts, bank details, etc. The grass-root level agencies procure on behalf of the SLAs and central agencies and farmers are paid directly into their bank account within 15 days of the sales.
Under Price Support Scheme (PSS), pre-registered farmers are allowed to sell their ware at Minimum Support Price (MSP) at designated centres as the prevailing price in the open markets is below the MSP.
PSS is the supply-side marketing intervention carried out by central agencies like NAFED and the Food Corporation of India.
This season, farmers in the state has grown Bengal gram in over 29.54 lakh hectares as against 28.01 lakh hectares last year. Across the country, Bengal gram acerage is around 103.37 lakh hectares as against the 102.65 lakh hectares of last year. With grim chances of gram crossing its MSP, farmers have lined up since February to register and sell their ware at the government procurement centres.
Senior officials criticise the political patronage that influenced the selection of the seven SLAs. Many say that neither the infrastructure facilities nor the experience of the procurement centres was considered. “Senior state government officials have talked about blacklisting erring procurement centres. However, it is worrisome that the talk of blacklisting has started well before the start of the procurement process,” said a central government official.
