When 110 taluks in the State have been declared drought-hit this year, Kalaburagi district, despite having three taluks in the list – Kalaburagi, Jewargi and Aland – has somehow managed to do well as for as agriculture is concerned, thanks to relatively better rainfall and resultant good red-gram crop. After a loss of around 60,000 hectares of standing crop in the downpour that lashed in September, the red-gram stilled remained largely unaffected on nearly 4 lakh hectares in the district. The yield too is better as compared to previous year which witnessed one of the worst droughts in recent times.
“I had grown eight quintals of red-gram in four acres last year. This year, I have harvested around 16 quintals in the same land,” said Sharanabasappa, a small farmer from Belur village in Kalaburagi taluk. He, however, could not rejoice as price of the crop dropped in the market. “I had sold the produce at Rs. 8,000 a quintal last year as compared to Rs. 4,500 this year. Some people had sold at Rs. 10,000,” he added.
Though the government has set up red-gram procurement centres at Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) yards to purchase the crop directly from farmers at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs. 5,050, most of the crop is being sold at lower prices to private traders and dal mills. For instance, 8123 quintals of red-gram was purchased by private parties at Kalaburagi APMC on Tuesday and only 154 quintals was procured at two procurement centres. These State-established centres have procured only 1818.50 quintals in the last one week. There are several reasons that force farmers to go to private parties to sell their crop.
Firstly, most of the farmers take hand-loans from private traders, dal mill owners and commission agents at upto 4 percent monthly interest for purchasing agricultural inputs during sowing on the condition that they would sell their crop to the same private parties who exploit the farmers by charging higher interest on the loan and relatively lower prices for the crop.
Secondly, farmers feel unsure about the quick payments at government-established procurement centres. The officials at the centre themselves agree, saying the payment may get delayed up to a month as compared to on-the-spot cheque issuance in private trading centres.
Maruthi Manpade, president of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, blames the government for unsatisfactory price and procurement woes.
“We had sought MSP of Rs. 7,500 a quintal. The State government recommended Rs.6,500. But, the Union government announced only Rs.4,625 plus Rs. 425 incentive. The government is not for safeguarding the interests of farming community,” he told The Hindu . The officials associated with procurement should attract farmers by ensuring speedy payment and hassle-free procurement, he felt.
He also blamed private parties for exploiting farmers with lower prices and higher interests on the one hand and purchasing the crop directly from farmers to evade taxes, thus causing a loss to the exchequer.
