Diversification dream turns sour

Farmers want to return to wheat-paddy cycle as Punjabs ambitious bid to usher in a citrus revolution has come a cropper....

It was Punjabs one of the most ambitious diversification bid to break free from the wheat-paddy logjam. After four years,the citrus dream has gone sour with a majority of the 250 farmers who had leased out their land to the government demanding it back.

The Council for Citrus and Agro Juicing formed in 2006 aimed to bring 20,000 acres under citrus fruit varieties imported by multinational Pepsico. However,even as trials at the experiment sites of the Punjab Agriculture University PAU and Punjab Horticulture Department were still on,the Council invited farmers to offer their land on lease under two schemes spanning six and 12 years.

In 2007,reports of poor fruit retention in the imported plants,non-compatibility of rootstocks and no juice in a few varieties started trickling in from the sites. Following media reports,the Council was asked to reduce the land to 5,000 acres. The government stopped funding the Council and refused to stand guarantee for further loans to be raised by it. It was instead asked to hunt for a venture capitalist. Even Pepsico,which had by this time created lakhs of plants at its nursery in Jallowal near Jalandhar,later brought in a few new varieties to replace the non-performing ones.

However,it was too late for farmers who had already bit the diversification bait in 2006 and early 2007. This week,they gathered in Chandigarh alleging breach of contract by the Council and demanding their land back.

Give us our land back so that we can go back to growing wheat and paddy. While no citrus plantation has come up on lands of many farmers,varieties grown on farms of several others have failed. To make matters worse,we are not being paid lease money timely nor is the Council monitoring our orchards, Bhupinder Pal Singh Dhillon,president,Farmers Welfare Association,Council for Citrus and Agri Juicing in Punjab,said recently while addressing the mediapersons.

Another farmer Jasbir Singh Sidhu said though the Council defaulted on timely payment of lease money and monitoring of orchards,they were themselves tending to their farms with the hope of reaping a good harvest. However,out of the four varieties planted on our fields,two have shown to have no juice at all. The fate of others would only be known by end of this year. For the last eight months,the labourers have not been paid; we are paying them from our own pockets to save the orchards. We also incurred an additional Rs 1-2.5 lakh on constructing water tanks for installing drip irrigation, he said.

Sidhu,who leased out his 24 acres in Doomwali village of Bhatinda to the Council,said he has raised kinnow and guava orchards with the help of subsidy under the National Horticulture Mission on his other farm in the village. Look at the contrast between the two farms, he says while showing pictures of his lush-green kinnow orchards and almost barren farm under the Citrus Council.

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Some farmers said their lands have still to see any citrus plantation. No plantation has been done on 26 acres land of my brothers in Doomwali village,said Sidhu while Sukhdev Singh Grewal of Tahliwala Jattan village in Ferozepur said citrus varieties have been planted in just 15 acres out of his 25 acres of land. There remaining land was lying waste,he added.

Amrik Singh of Suran village in Jalandhar said after three years,the Council is talking of replacing unsuccessful varieties. They told me that they will replace the varieties. What is the guarantee that the new varieties planted by them will not have to be replaced after another three years, he asked.