Despite protests over the new farm laws enacted by the Parliament, farmers from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Jammu and Kashmir are going to mandis in large numbers to sell their produce to procurement agencies, Government officials said.
According to the Ministry of Food and Consumer Affairs, about 84.46 lakh metric tons of kharif paddy worth `15,947 crore was purchased at the minimum support price (MSP) from 7.38 lakh farmers so far. Unlike before, the Government is releasing the daily procurement data to send a message to farmers protesting against the new farm laws that it has no intention of scrapping procurement at MSP.
In a related development, the Punjab Assembly session scheduled to begin on October 19 will now last for two days instead of one to bring a legislation to negate the farm laws enacted by the Parliament. Farmers and civil rights organisations have been holding protests since last month. As per the Punjab government data, 47,53,651 metric tonnes of paddy has been procured and payment of `5,246.27 crores has been made to 3,56,516 farmers. As per data, 47,34,791 metric tonnes paddy has procured by the Government agencies and 18,860 metric tonnes by the millers.
“So far, 96% of the total rice procurement of 3.72 million tonnes have come from Punjab and Haryana. Farmers are coming to mandis in large number in these two States to sell their produce at MSP,” officials said. The official said that the procurement will further step up when purchase starts in major rice producing states like West Bengal, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, where harvest hits the market later.
On the other hand, Bhartiya Kisan Union has alleged that farmers from UP, Bihar and Rajasthan are selling their crops to Punjab traders as there was a huge gap between the MSP in Punjab and these states. “Farmers in these states are selling their crop to Punjab traders at `900-1,000 per quintal. After paying the freight charges (`200-250/ quintal), it costs the traders `1,150 per quintal. This means they make a profit of nearly `600-650/quintal,” they alleged.
Paddy procurement commenced in Punjab and Haryana from September 26 due to early arrival of the crop, while in other states it began from October 1. More than 80 per cent of the country’s paddy crop is grown in the kharif season. The Government through the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state agencies undertakes procurement of paddy at MSP. “Paddy procurement in the 2020-21 kharif marketing season is going on smoothly in the procuring states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Chandigarh and J&K,” the food ministry said. As per data, FCI has procured 4,82,656 MT in Haryana, 1545 MT in Uttar Pradesh and 1809 MT in Kerala and 25,551 MT in Tamil Nadu till October 7.
The government has set target of procuring 49.7 million tonnes rice in this kharif season - around 18% more than record procurement of 42 million tonnes in kharif 2019-20. For the current year, the Centre has fixed the MSP of paddy (common grade) at `1,868 per quintal, while that of A grade variety has been fixed at Rs 1,888 per quintal.
Till October 17, about 723.79 tonne of moong and urad at MSP value of Rs 5.21 crore was procured from 681 farmers in Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. Similarly, 5089metric tones of copra (the perennial crop) having MSP value of Rs. 52.40 crore has been procured benefitting 3961 farmers in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. In respect of Copra and Urad, rates are ruling above MSP in most of the major producing States.
In case of cotton, state-owned Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) has procured 165369 bales at MSP value of Rs 46697.86 lakh from 32994 farmers till October 17.