How a Dehradun sugar mill is transacting with farmers while countering Covid-19

Singh reached there, displayed his token at the gate and drove his tractor and a sugarcane-laden trolley inside the sugar mill. But just before entering, the mill’s security guard drew Singh’s attention to a notice displayed there and asked him to clean his hands with the soap and tap water, which was kept there, to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

The key difference from the past has been the lack of any physical interaction. During this entire process, for instance, there was no exchange of paper between the farmer and the mill staff.

On reaching the weighing machine, which was positioned about 15 metres from the entry gates, Singh took out his mobile phone from the pocket and read a code from a text message that was sent to him by the local cane society — the “Doiwala Society” — from where he had got “ganna parchi ” to sell his crop. That parchi (or a paper receipt) had key details such as farmer’s name, father’s name, farmer code, village, parchi number, and code of cane society and mode of transport along with the variety of the crop.

“Instead of taking the hard copy of the parchi, I asked the farmer’s code and verified that from the farmer’s details that the cane society had sent to me on email. I registered the farmer’s entry and the cane weight before allowing him to move ahead to unload the produce,” said Sanjay Khatri, cane clerk at the sugar mill, who wears gloves these days while working on the computer and handling documents. He also has a sanitiser in his drawer.

The key difference from the past has been the lack of any physical interaction. During this entire process, for instance, there was no exchange of paper between the farmer and the mill staff.

Mill management had introduced certain changes to this effect as a measure to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

“While coming from fields to the mill, farmers would have touched many things and the exchange of papers with them makes the possibility of transmission of any kind of infection. Hence, in view of Covid-19 infection, it has been decided to minimise the exchange of papers with farmers. We take details of farmers and the parchi issued to them from the cane societies via email,” said Pravin Kumar Pandey, Cane Manager and Public Information Officer of the mill.

The normal procedure that was effective till a few days ago; every farmer had to hand over that parchi to the cane clerk after entering the mill to get his supply weighed and get another receipt in return. That second receipt displays details like the weight of the sugarcane with the vehicle and bank account details in which cane price has to be transferred.

But now, a farmer neither submits a copy of the parchi nor does he get any receipt from the cane clerk. “I verbally tell the farmer the weight of his crop at the weighing machine. Farmers get the final receipt at the exit point after unloading the cart or trolley or truck and that final receipt displays details like the time of arrival, duration of weighing of the cane, the time of exit, the weight of the crop and amount to be paid to the farmer against his crop and bank account,” Khatri said.

Pandey said that to prevent farmers crowding at the mill gate, they were providing tokens to farmers so that farmers come to mill only when it is their turn. He said that farmers are also informed about their turn over the phone. Also, mill management has asked the farmers to maintain a distance of minimum four-metre while parking their vehicles in a queue near the uploading point.

“That is helping us adhere to social distancing norms,” Pandey said. Also, the mill management has stipulated that, in any 24-hour cycle, only a maximum of 65-trucks, 60 trolleys and 200 carts will be allowed inside the mill.

“Due to such measures, there is no crowd of farmers and no long queues of trolleys and carts at the entrance gate. Everyone enters on their turn. This is helpful in social distancing with respect to the spread of coronavirus,” said Agraj Saini, a farmer.

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