Positively responding to the letters written by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers H.N. Ananth Kumar, in view of farmers’ consistent demand for removal of quantity cap for red-gram procurement under Price Support Scheme (PSS), the Union government on Tuesday enhanced the procurement quantity from 2,65,200 tonnes to 3,64,600 tonnes.
In his letter dated March 6, 2018, Shashi Bhushan, Director (MPS), Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, conveyed the Union government’s decision to the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd. Union Minister for Agriculture, Radha Mohan Singh, in his subsequent letter to Mr. Ananth Kumar, said that the enhanced procurement quantity was 50% of the total estimated production under PSS during the Kharif season of 2017-18 in the State.
The Union government had initially approved the procurement of 1,65,750 tonnes in December last year against the total expected yield of about 9,02,000 tonnes grown in 8.85 lakh hectares in the State. Considering the huge gap between the expected yield and the procurement quantity cap and a large number of growers remaining out of PSS ambit as a consequence, the procurement cap was raised by 1 lakh tonnes on the request of the State government. Since the gap between expected yield and the procurement cap was still wide, farmers launched agitations for removal of the quantity cap. The State government wrote to the Union government requesting enhancement of the procurement limit to a minimum of 5 lakh tonnes. However, the Union government raised the cap to 3.64 lakh tonnes.
‘Partial success’
As copies of the letters confirming the raise of procurement cap began making the rounds in social media on Tuesday night, red-gram growers who were on hunger strike in Kalaburagi since February 20 began to celebrate the “partial success” of their struggle. By Wednesday afternoon, they declared the withdrawal of their agitation after bursting crackers, distributing sweets and offering tender coconut water to fasting farmers. Former Minister S.K. Kantha, farmers’ leaders Moula Mulla, Basavaraj Pawadshetty, Shivanand Gudur, and Muneer Hashmi and others were present on the occasion.
“Though the raising of procurement quantity cap is a positive thing, it is not even half of the expected yield of around 9 lakh tonnes. There are 8 lakh toor growers in the State and only 3.15 lakh of them could enrol themselves for selling their crop in the procurement centres under PSS scheme. Even after procurement of 3.64 lakh tonnes at MSP [Minimum Support Price], around 60% of the farmers remains outside the PSS scheme. They will be forced to sell their crop at around Rs. 4,000 a quintal as compared to the MSP of Rs. 6,000 a quintal in procurement centres,” Maruti Manpade, farmers’ leader, told The Hindu.
He added that a fresh wave of agitations would soon be planned demanding the removal of procurement cap. “Fixing MSP and procuring all the crop grown is a responsibility of Union government. Allowing a few farmers to sell their crop at MSP and denying the rest by capping the procurement quantity is unfair. Procurement quantity restriction defeats the very purpose of safeguarding farmers from price fall through effective market intervention,” he said.
