With the national lockdown to check the spread of COVID-19 hitting farmers hard, Swabhimani Paksha chief Raju Shetti on Wednesday urged the Maharashtra government to set up alternative distribution channels to enable farmers to sell their produce directly to consumers.
He said given the magnitude of losses to dairy farmers, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government must purchase more of the excess milk and stop dairy tankers of brands from other States like Amul, Heritage and Nandini from entering the State.
The former MP said the government should ensure that farmers are able to sell their produce through the primary agricultural credit society and the network of ‘farmers’ clubs’ already existing in many districts. “If a tempo can be deployed to collect the produce of farmers and deliver to consumers in urban pockets, even the latter will benefit as they can avail of fresh fruits and vegetables directly from farmers instead of shelling out exorbitant rates to middlemen. The tempo could function as a roving vegetable market and sell rice, maize, jowar along with fruits. This could be an effective way to dissuade crowds from gathering outside shops,” Mr. Shetti told The Hindu .
Observing that milk procurement had plummeted to 45% of its daily average of 1.3 crore litres, he urged the State to purchase an additional 15 lakh litres from farmers to tide them over. “Since most hotels are closed, the demand for milk-based products like paneer, curd and kulfi has gone down. Besides, as several MIDC units have stopped work, the manufacture of milk-based products, too, has slowed. In this backdrop, the State should not permit milk tankers from Gujarat, Hyderabad and Karnataka to enter Maharashtra under the pretext of essential supplies,” Mr. Shetti said. He pointed out that Karnataka had stopped tankers of Maharashtra’s indigenous milk brands like Gokul and Warana.
Remarking that it was imperative to revive agricultural activity as soon as possible for the sake of a stable economy, Mr. Shetti demanded the Central and State governments announce some package to compensate farmers for their losses.
“There is no telling how long the lockdown will last. Several mango, grape and banana farmers have incurred heavy losses as they are not able to sell their produce in the markets on time. Fruit and vegetable farmers in the State had to endure natural calamities last year with the flood ravaging swathes of Kolhapur, Sangli and other areas of Pune division. Then, they had to contend with unseasonal showers, and now the pandemic,” he said, urging Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to conduct a survey of the damage suffered by farmers in this period.
