The Andhra Pradesh Government has come to the rescue of social forestry planters in Prakasam district by announcing new purchase prices for subabul and eucalyptus by paper mills.
After a series of meetings with representatives of the farmers and the paper mills at the district and State levels, State Transport Minister Sidda Raghava Rao announced that “paper mills from now will purchase subabul at the rate of Rs. 4000 per quintal and eucalpyptus at Rs. 4200 per quintal from farmers”. The new rates were arrived at after the intervention of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and State Agriculture Minister P. Pulla Rao, he said.
The State Government’s intervention came in the wake of the paper mills allegedly not honouring the agreement reached earlier at the behest of the district administration to purchase subabul at Rs. 4,400 per quintal and eucalyptus at Rs. 4,600 per quintal.
Projected as an alternative to the negative crop of tobacco, farmers in the drought-prone district had taken to social forestry plantations with the acreage going to two lakh acres.
The marketing arrangement with the Agricultural Market Committees (AMCs) acting as regulators worked well till the paper mills bypassed the AMCs to make purchases on their own through their agents much below the prices fixed by the Government.
In deference to the wishes of the farmers, Mr. Raghava Rao said the AMCs would play the role of facilitator as in the past.
“Payment will be released to farmers concerned five days after the sale,” he said along with TDP MLAs D. Janardhana Rao, Y. Sambasiva Rao and P. David Raju.
Analysing the market situation, noted farmer leader and former TDP MP Dr. Y. Sivaji said the woes of social forestry planters were no different from that of tobacco growers. “An Indian MNC enjoys monopoly in both the sectors, with umpteen number of sellers and lone large buyer controlling a large proportion of the market and driving down the prices.”
Taking up cudgels for the farmers, Prakasam District Development Forum president Ch. Ranga Rao said according to sources, while the Indian paper industry needed 120 lakh tonnes of wood pulp per year, the overall import of wood pulp and waste paper during 2014-15 was only 35 lakh tonnes. The industry met the balance requirement from farmers and by clearing bamboo from forests. While the industry spent about Rs. 60 per kg for imported wood pulp, it only paid Rs. 20 to Rs. 30 per kg to domestic farmers, he claimed, and disputed the paper mills’ contention of low imported wood price.
Mr. D. Gopinath, Secretary of the Rythu Sangham in Prakasam district, urged the district administration to formalise a written agreement so that the paper mills did not go back on their commitment.
The rate announced for eucalyptus would be remunerative only if the logs were purchased in debarked condition, said Prakasam district Rythu Sangham president M. Srinivasa Rao. A mechanism should be put in place to prevent sale outside the purview of the AMCs, said Kisan Congress District president V.Rajagopala Reddy.
The farmers were against fixing rates for logs at the district level, said TDP farmers wing district president K. Venkaiah and pressed for a uniform market price for logs across the State.
