On its second day of national general council meet in Odisha’s Berhampur on Wednesday, the All India Kisan Mazdoor Sabha demanded the government to ensure that the procurement price of all agricultural produce is one and a half times the total production cost.
Leaders of the organisation alleged that the present fixation of procurement price by the government is too arbitrary and lacks proper logic. Added to it several agricultural products still do not have any government prescribed procurement price.
“The AIKMS feels while assessing total agricultural production cost, the valuation of family labour, land rent has to be included apart from normal costs related to seeds, fertilizer, pesticides, power consumption, irrigation cess among others," said the organisation's national secretary Bhalachandra Shadangi.
In a State like Odisha, where most peasants are sharecroppers, land rent is never taken into account while assessing the production cost, he claimed. “Added to it, cost of labour contributed by family members of a peasant is not taken into account, which demeans the importance and efforts of this workforce. So, we demand these two factors to be included while assessing the total production cost of agricultural produce,” said Mr. Shadangi.
According to AIKMS leaders, the government should also make all efforts to reduce input cost of agricultural produce so that it ultimately leads to reduction of its price in the market. At present, reduction of price in market only means loss for the poor farmers as input cost is high and on the rise, they alleged.
