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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Drought distress: Winter of discontent for Madhya Pradesh farmers -Milind Ghatwai

Drought distress: Winter of discontent for Madhya Pradesh farmers -Milind Ghatwai

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published Published on Nov 20, 2015   modified Modified on Nov 20, 2015
-The Indian Express

Extended dry spell hits rabi plantings on top of failed kharif crop

Bhopal:
Madhya Pradesh, an agricultural success story of the past decade, is bracing itself for a rough time this year, with deficient rains resulting in the failure of the kharif crop and also putting a question market over sowing in the ongoing rabi season.

The state, in recent times, had emerged as the country’s second largest contributor of wheat to the Central pool after Punjab, with annual procurement soaring from barely 3 lakh tonnes (lt) in the early 2000s to an average of 75 lt since 2012-13. Simultaneously, it consolidated its No. 1 position in soyabean production. With the state government under Shivraj Singh Chouhan giving farmers an additional bonus for wheat over and above the Centre’s minimum support price (MSP), and soyabean realisations also rising from increased export demand for oil-meals amidst a global commodity boom, rural incomes in MP registered significant improvement.

But that picture has reversed since 2014, starting with the collapse of soya-meal exports in the wake of a crash in global prices and the Centre cracking down on states declaring bonuses over its MSP. Things have taken a turn for the worse this year. The south-west monsoon arrived with a bang, as June and July saw western MP receive almost 47 per cent surplus rainfall. While the eastern part recorded a 17 per cent shortfall, it was still within manageable limits. By mid-August, the state had exceeded its sowing target of 104 lakh hectares (lh) for all kharif crops (including soyabean, paddy, maize, urad, arhar/tur and cotton) by more than 15 lh.

The rains, however, played truant in the second half of the monsoon season: The deficit during August-September amounted to 31 per cent in west MP and 40 per cent for east MP. It was only towards the second week of October that the full impact of the late-season drought sank in, as reports of farmer suicides from the hinterlands started trickling in.

“The soybean crop was a failure. Those who went for early sowing barely managed to recover input costs; those who were late lost everything,” says Rajendra Khanuja, who farms 16 acres in Bagra Tawa village, about 35 km from Hoshangabad.

The woes of farmers have, however, been compounded by poor rains in the post-monsoon period (October-November), leaving very little residual soil moisture for rabi sowing operations too. Besides, maximum temperatures are still ruling at 32-33 degrees Celsius, 3-4 degrees above normal levels. “For proper germination, day temperatures have to be well below 30 degrees. In the normal course, sowing of wheat should have been completed by November 15, but it could stretch beyond mid-December this time,” Khanuja points out.

Moreover, many farmers, whose kharif crop have failed or yields impacted by drought, may not even have the money to buy seeds or fertilisers to undertake rabi plantings. “Not everybody has the holding capacity that I have,” notes Khanuja who is a relatively better-off farmer. But he, too, has decided to experiment this time, by sowing kaddu (pumpkin) on six acres in place of wheat “because the input cost is less”.

“Nature is not in our control. Although we are doing our best, the current water from all available sources —including reservoirs, canals and tube-wells —isn’t adequate to meet the requirements of farmers,” admits Gaurishankar Bisen, MP’s Minister for Farmers’ Welfare and Agriculture Development.

The minister reckons the state’s soyabean production this year to be less than 46 lt, as against initial government projections of 70-80 lt. The Indore-based Soyabean Processors Association of India’s output estimate for 2015 in MP, released on October 29, is even lower at 34.13 lt, as against last year’s 49.68 lt.

SS Tomar, director Research Services of the Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya — the state’s agriculture university — at Jabalpur attributes the soyabean crop’s failure primarily to the prolonged dry spell during the flowering stage, apart from lack of disease-resistant varieties and farmers’ reluctance to rotate crops that adds to the vulnerability. He also believes this year’s farm crisis to be worse than last year’s.

For the state government, the main worry right now is the poor progress of rabi sowing, across all crops. Bisen reveals that the acreage target for the current rabi season has already been lowered from 106 to 90 lh, and “it could go down further”.

Meanwhile, the deepening agrarian crisis has predictably provided sufficient fodder for politicians.

On November 5, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan administration convened a day-long special Assembly session, to clear a supplementary Budget of over Rs 8,000 crore for provision of enhanced relief to drought-affected farmers.

But the Opposition Congress has latched on to the state government seeking less than Rs 5,000 crore of assistance from the Centre and the latter — which is also ruled by the BJP — not extending a penny so far. When the Congress-led UPA was at the helm in New Delhi, Chouhan would often send memoranda to the Centre. In March 2014, the Chief Minister even led his Cabinet colleagues to sit on a dharna in Bhopal, protesting against the UPA’s indifference towards compensating farmers for losses suffered on account of unseasonal rains and hailstorm. Congress leaders are now taunting Chouhan to do an encore — even lead a protest march to New Delhi, in which they would gladly participate.

Congress MLA Ramniwas Rawat claims farmers in MP are today facing the biggest crisis of their times: “There is admittedly little one can do when it comes to nature, but the administrative response to the calamity has been slow. Tens of thousands of youth have migrated to other states in search of employment only because the state government has failed to start works under MGNREGA”.

Chouhan, on his part, has responded by stating that “it wouldn’t matter much if bridges, culverts or roads are not built for a year, but it will wreak havoc if farmers’ miseries are not mitigated,” even while announcing a 15 per cent budget cut in all other departments to fund drought relief.


The Indian Express, 19 November, 2015, http://indianexpress.com/article/business/business-others/drought-distress-winter-of-discontent-for-madhya-pradesh-farmers/


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