A huge gap in money paid by the Central government to agencies involved in procurement of red gram from farmers at the minimum support price (MSP) has caused deep resentment among growers as payments were delayed to them amidst huge arrivals at market yards in Telangana. In the process, the agencies have stopped procurement in at least seven erstwhile districts.
The Telangana State Cooperative Marketing Federation (MARKFED) and the Hyderabad Agricultural Cooperative Association (HACA) have purchased 23.26 lakh quintals of red gram worth ₹ 1,268.11 crore since the arrivals at yards started on December 27. But, only ₹ 226.53 crore (₹ 47.92 crore to MARKFED and ₹ 178.61 crore) was released to farmers.
Bank guarantee
In these circumstances, the State government stepped in two days ago and arranged a bank guarantee of ₹ 300 crore each to both agencies which was still insufficient. Sources said unless another ₹ 200 crore was mobilised, there was no way the commitment to farmers could be met. This, only after the State government was assured of ₹ 183 crore towards balance due by the Centre for the stocks already purchased.
The non-release of money by the Centre was attributed to the Union Budget for pulses and oilseeds overshooting by ₹ 10,000 crore due to surplus production in northern States.
The problem of red gram growers in Telangana was not confined to delayed payments by procurement agencies alone as the production was at least three times more than the permission given by Centre to purchase at MSP. While the estimated production was 29.40 lakh quintals, the Centre permitted procurement at the MSP of ₹ 5,450 a quintal for only 7.35 lakh quintals.
State intervention
However, the State government has so far purchased 23.26 lakh quintals to ensure that the farmers did not sell to traders at lower price.
The procurement of red gram was not without booking of cases as it was noticed that the farmers were native of Telangana but the stocks belonged to Maharashtra. Over 180 bags were seized in the market at Jangaon.
Our reporters from districts add:
In Warangal the red gram farmers are in distress in the district as MARKFED stopped buying the produce after purchasing from January 8 to February 20. The Enumamula agricultural market officials declared that they would buy no more, forcing the farmers to sell the produce to private traders who were offering ₹ 3,500 to ₹ 4,150 per quintal.
In Khammam, the reported decision of the procurement agencies to stop buying the stocks in the town and another one in Nelakondapalli mandal from Thursday evoked flak from various farmers' organisations.
According to sources, the two MARKFED procurement centres have purchased around 12,000 quintals of red gram so far in the current season. The farmers organisations mainly owing allegiance to the Left parties have recently staged protests demonstrations at the Agriculture Market Yard here demanding procurement of the entire red gram produce of the farmers at a remunerative price without imposing a cap on procurement of the commodity.
In Kamareddy redgram purchases at all the seven purchase centers in the district were closed as the target for the procurement by the Markfed was fulfilled. Collector N. Satyanarayana told The Hindu that he was writing a letter to Managing Director of Markfed Jagan Mohan to keep open the purchasing centers open for a few more days to clear the balance of crop.
In Sangareddy the procurement of red-gram in the district was completed on Wednesday with about 2.09 lakh quintals procured so far. The officials have expected that about 1.5 lakh quintals of yield will be there but it has surpassed their expectations and as much as 2.09 lakh quintals was purchased by Markfed officials.
