Farmers in several towns are protesting, demanding the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of ₹2,030 per quintal, as private merchants exploit high moisture content claims to force underselling of paddy at procurement centres
Published Nov 15, 2024 | 8:00 AM ⚊ Updated Nov 15, 2024 | 10:57 AM
Rice paddy field (iStock)
The Congress government in Telangana is bracing for unprecedented arrivals of paddy at the procurement centres in about one to 10 days.
It is its first kharif test. If it flounders, the Congress will have to pay a heavy price, incurring the wrath of lakhs of farmers.
There are reports of organisers at procurement centres not buying the paddy on the pretext that the moisture content is quite high. Private merchants, who wait for an opportune time have moved in and are forcing the farmers to undersell their produce.
In several towns and villages, farmers are staging rasta rokos, demanding payment of a Minimum Support Price (MSP) of ₹2,030 per quintal. Recently farmers held up vehicular traffic in Miryalguda in Nalgonda district, alleging that the millers were not purchasing paddy from them at MSP.
Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has already sounded a warning to millers and the private paddy merchants that the government would invoke the provisions of Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) against them if they cheat the farmers or force them to undersell their produce.
The chief minister who is in the midst of campaigning for Congress in Maharashtra, held a review with officials on Wednesday, 13 November, from there. He announced that the government would procure the entire paddy from farmers.
He asked district collectors to prevent farmers from resorting to panic-selling in the wake of intermittent showers in some districts.
As unexpected winter rains are not uncommon in Telangana, the farmers are anxious to get rid of their paddy as early as possible.
Ever since kharif harvesting season began last month, the government has been struggling to get the rice mills to procure paddy.
The millers are angry with the government as it has been insisting on 100 percent bank guarantee for the paddy they procure. Under the previous BRS regime, the bank guarantee used to be only 10 percent.
At paddy procurement centres where millers are not purchasing paddy, the state government has decided to shift it to the godowns until the millers fall in line. Though it involved an additional expenditure for the government, the government has decided to bear it.
Though it is not sure how much it might turn out to be, it is estimated that in the worst-case scenario, it may have to incur an expenditure of more than ₹100 crore as it involves transportation to godowns, storage and again moving it back to mills.
If the millers continue to refuse to lift the paddy when arrivals pick up, the government would have a serious problem in its hands.
The Civil Supplies Department has a target of procuring 80 lakh tonnes in kharif this year. It has opened 7,234 paddy procurement centres across the state. But the procurement, so far, has been just 7.26 lakh tonnes.
The main problem that the farmers are facing is that at procurement centres, they are being turned away on the ground that the paddy they had brought had moisture content of more than 17 percent.
If the moisture content is more than prescribed limit, the millers would not be able to sell it to the Food Corporation of India (FCI).
The state government buys paddy from the farmers directly and sells rice to the FCI after milling. The paddy is procured at the procurement centres and the farmers get paid by the government. The paddy would then be converted into rice at the rice mills and sold to the FCI.
The state government gets the payment from the FCI. The millers get paid the charges for milling the paddy.
Though procurement season began in October, it is yet to pick up.
Farmers fear rain the most, as a sudden cloudburst could either totally damage the paddy or increase the moisture content beyond the permissible 17 percent. As there is a nip in the winter air, it is also adding to the moisture content.
Taking full advantage of the paddy procurement centres turning away famers, private merchants are forcing them to undersell their produce. As against the MSP of ₹2,320 per quintal, the merchants are not paying more than ₹1,600 to ₹1,700 per quintal, saying that the paddy was of poor quality and that there would be no takers after it is converted into rice.
The organisers at the paddy procurement centres asserted that the moisture content of the paddy (BPT variety) is about 20 to 30 percent when the rules say that MSP should be paid only if the moisture content is less than 17 percent.
The civil supplies officials said that to prevent rejection, the farmers should dry their paddy before moving it to the paddy procurement centres.
They should be knowledgeable about the moisture content levels and act wisely. “The farmers should not resort to panic selling. If they want the MSP, they should take enough care that the moisture levels are within the prescribed limit. It is necessary that they dry their crop well,” an official said on the condition of anonymity.
As the issue is sensitive with the potential for an adverse political fallout, the chief minister has been reiterating that the entire paddy would be procured from farmers and that they should not go in for distress selling.
The ruling party leaders are on the edge with the Opposition BRS slamming the Congress for its ineptitude in procuring paddy and comparing it to how well it was done when the BRS was in power.
“The state government has left the farmers to fend for themselves. The Civil Supplies Corporation has proved to be incapable of either facilitating procurement of paddy or making payments to farmers in time,” former finance minister and BRS leader T Harish Rao said on Wednesday,
Rao interacted with farmers at a procurement centre in Nalgonda’s Munugode. “The BRS mark in procurement is lacking now. We had ensured payment of MSP to farmers without any hassles,” he said.
(Edited by Ananya Rao)
