Last year, MahaFPC affected the largest procurement in chana in the state. (Representative/Express Photo)Earlier this week, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis blamed MahaFPC — the umbrella consortium of FPCs (Farmer Producer Companies) in the state — as the reason why Minimum Support Price (MSP) procurement of chana has failed to accelerate in the state. While responding to a question by NCP MLA Dhanajay Munde in Assembly, Fadnavis said government agencies had unearthed irregularities in some of the state centers last season. “These centers were run by members of MahaFPC and thus we have to reduce their number of centers and allocate the same to other FPCs. This has taken a bit of time but I assure you procurement of farmer’ produce would not be affected,” he said.
While Fadnavis’ statement sent shockwaves across more than 500 Maha FPC members, many in the corridors of power said they weren’t surprised. The company, which was one of the first movers in the FPC segment in the state and the country, was also singled out last season after reports of irregularities had come up against its members last season. This is in spite of the MahaFPC emerging as the lead procurer of chana in the state last season.
Since 2018, MahaFPC has been involved in government procurement programs wherein they act as subagents of central agencies like the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) to procure commodities under the Price Stabilization Scheme (PSS). This scheme encourages farmers to sell their produce at MSP to the government when wholesale prices in the markets fall below the government-declared MSP. Thus chana, whose MSP is Rs 5,225/quintal and is now trading at Rs 4,500-4,600/quintal, would require government procurement. NAFED is expected to procure 8 lakh tonnes of chana from Maharashtra.
At the ground level, the procurement would be done by sub-agents or State Level Agencies (SLA) of NAFED. While Maharashtra has eight SLAs, the highest in the country, government agencies say this is due to the unbridled entry of politically backed players in the scheme. Pruthashakthi, Mahakisan Sangh, Mahakisan Vridhi Agro Producers Company, MahaSwarajya FPC Federation, MahaFPC, Maharashtra State Coperative Marketing Federation, and the Vidharbha Cooperative Marketing Federation are the SLAs. Of these, the last three have been in the business of government procurement over the last few seasons, and the rest have been recent entries this season.
Last year, MahaFPC affected the largest procurement in chana in the state. However, officials had pointed out a few serious shortcomings in their operations. In Nanded, some parts of Osmanabad, Latur, and Hingoli, village-level FPC members of MahaFPC had ended up procuring more than the allowed quantity from their member farmers. Also, some of the FPCs in these districts had failed to register the procured commodity before depositing them in the godowns. Quality issues had also come up in some of the commodities procured. It is estimated that around 3,000 tonnes of excess procurement in these districts. “At the village level, FPCs movement has become a new but powerful political instrument and MahaFPC being the first mover has harvested the same,” said a senior government official from Latur.
Given the concerns this season, the procurement has been stopped at 200 as against 315 MahaFPC centers last season. This has led to resistance at the grassroots level which ultimately has led to Munde’s question and Fadnavis’ naming MahaFPC and its alleged irregularities in the process.
On its part, MahaFPC has denied any wrongdoing or political interference in its actions. MahaFPC director Dasrao Patil, whose Ranban FPC in the Nilanga taluka of Latur also runs a procurement center, claimed the Deputy Chief Minister has not been given the full information about the ground reality. “As an organization MahaFPC is miles away from any political process. But at the grass root level, member FPCs do have their orientation. Thanks to the good work our members have done, the political leaderships in various districts try to intervene if anything goes wrong with them,” he said.
Asked about the excess procurement Patil said it was a result of the sudden closure of the procurement portal once the target was met. “We were not given the procurement targets- we had just procured produce our registered members had brought to the center. On the last day when the portal closed we were left with around 3,000 tonnes of chana which the government is now saying excess,” he said. Patil however agreed some of the FPCs had not done the lot entry of some of the procured produce. “We have taken action against FPCs who did this. Our audit reports and other compliances are up to date and welcome scrutiny by any agency,” he said.
This season, the state government is closely scrutinising the procurement process. Anop Kumar, principal secretary of cooperation and marketing, said district collectors and district marketing officers would form teams to inspect the centers. “We will immediately blacklist centers if we find anything cases of wrongdoing,” he said.