A distant dream for farmers

Despite the superior quality of cotton, unlicenced private cotton purchasers are known to pay as less as Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 3,200 per quintal.

A Gond priest offering ‘naivedyam’ to earth before the launch of cotton picking at Tokyan Movvad in Adilabad district. -Photo: S. Harpal Singh

With nothing in their favour in terms of trading their agriculture produce, Adivasi farmers in the agency mandals of Adilabad started harvesting cotton. They are likely to end up selling it in distress to unlicenced private traders as access to the agriculture market yards remains a ‘distant’ dream for a majority of them.

Farmers belonging to aboriginal tribes from the mandals of Ichoda, Gudihatnoor, Bazarhatnoor, Indervelli, Utnoor, Jainoor, Narnoor, Sirpur (U), Kerameri, Wankidi and Asifabad produce good quantum of cotton despite their yields being low. They however, stand to at least break even owing to restricted investment on cultivation in the shape of use of costly chemicals.

In general, an Adivasi family cultivates cotton in about two acres of land and gets a yield of 5 to 8 quintals. As many villages are situated far away from the main roads, the expenditure on transportation is as high as triple as that incurred by other farmers.

“For transporting one quintal of cotton in an auto trolley, we are charged about Rs. 500,” says Atram Mutha of Chinna Patnapur talking about the usual practice. The village is located about 34 km from Asifabad where a market yard is located and the good carrier ownership is concentrated in the hands of unlicenced non-tribal businessmen.

“Moreover, it is difficult to find a vehicle to transport the produce,” he adds. Needless to say, there are hardly any autos plying on the 23 km stretch between Hatti and Jodeghat along which a dozen tribal villages are located.

Under such circumstances, the Adivasis are forced to sell cotton or for that matter soyabean and red gram to private traders at respective mandal head quarters.

The presence of market yards at Indervelli, Jainoor and Asifabad where the Cotton Corporation of India has opened its purchase centres also do not make any difference.

Despite the superior quality of cotton, unlicensed private cotton purchasers are known to pay as less as Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 3,200 per quintal. On top of it, there is no guarantee that they do not cheat the gullible tribal people in weighment of the produce.

One of the solutions to the problem could be the 35 autos given to Adivasi youths by the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) under the centrally-sponsored Conservation-cum-Development Plan. The youths can transport cotton at least from respective areas of operation to markets at reasonable rates.