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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Message to CM from unploughed fields by Pranesh Sarkar

Message to CM from unploughed fields by Pranesh Sarkar

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published Published on Apr 1, 2012   modified Modified on Apr 1, 2012

-The Telegraph

 

Farmers in Bengal left around 2.8 lakh hectares uncultivated in the just-concluded boro crop season, a silent expression of no-confidence in the state government’s paddy procurement process and a fallout of rising fertiliser prices.

The area cultivated in the boro season (January to end-February) can be considered a barometer for man-made farming systems because farmers largely depend on irrigation during this phase. The bigger aman crop (June to August) still remains a gamble in the monsoon.

This year’s boro season figures do not reciprocate the soaring rhetoric employed by the Mamata Banerjee government while swearing by farmers.

A report drawn up by the state agriculture department revealed that the state had fallen short of its cultivation target (see chart). “The state had fixed a target of cultivating 14 lakh hectares during the boro season. But the latest report shows that about 11.2 lakh hectares (a shortfall of about 20 per cent) were cultivated during the season,” said a senior official of the state agriculture department.

“Reports sent by all the districts — except West Midnapore — mentioned that the target of cultivating plots in the boro season wasn’t achieved because farmers did not get the right price for their produce (aman) during the last monsoon and also because of a hike in prices of agricultural inputs like fertilisers,” another official said.

The officials said no immediate impact was expected on the supply of foodgrain in the state. However, the Trinamul government is unlikely to miss the political message from the uncultivated swathes as it prepares for the panchayat polls next year.

The Mamata government has been putting all its eggs in the rural basket of late, repeatedly suggesting that as long as it can carry along the ma-maati-manush constituency, it is not too bothered about the opinion of others. The government has also been denying that something is amiss in the farmlands of Bengal, some areas of which have reported suicides linked to procurement problems.

But the boro statistics do suggest that all’s not well with the farmers. Besides, if the coming monsoon crop falls short, the impact would eventually tell on grain supply.

“We generally produce 150 lakh tonnes of rice every year, while our consumption requirement is 135 lakh tonnes. In the aman season, we produce about 110 lakh tonnes of rice. The shortfall of about 25 lakh tonnes is made up through the boro crop, the production of which hovers around 40-45 lakh tonnes,” said an official. “But the aman crop is totally dependent on rainfall. If rainfall is not adequate, the aman is bound to be hit. Then it could affect food security.”

In the boro season of 2009-10, the state had nearly achieved the target of cultivating 14 lakh hectares. But last year, in the 2010-11 cycle, the state had failed to achieve the target because of a drought-like situation. This year, although there was no drought, the cultivated area fell short of even last year’s coverage by over 1 lakh hectares.

Agriculture minister Rabindranath Bhattacharya conceded a shortfall in boro cultivation.

“I have seen the preliminary report. It is true that we will not be able to achieve the boro cultivation target of 14 lakh hectares. But I don’t think that farmers are unhappy with the state’s paddy procurement efforts. Initially, there were some problems. But our government has ensured steps to buy paddy from the farmers by providing the minimum support price. The farmers are happy now. There may be some other reasons, which we have to find out,” Bhattacharya told The Telegraph.

But district agriculture officials who prepared the report pointed out that the farmers’ inability to sell their produce and to get the right price were the major reasons behind their reluctance to cultivate the boro crop in a bigger way.

“As of February, the state had achieved the target of collecting levy rice from the rice mills, which is good work. But when it came to procuring paddy directly from the farmers, it fell way behind,” said an official at Writers’ Buildings. “The state had set an annual target of procuring roughly 14 lakh tonnes of paddy directly from the farmers. But till February 28, the state could procure only about 2.33 lakh tonnes,” the official added.

Direct procurement from farmers will have more resonance on the ground. According to a report from the state food and supplies department, the three state agencies — Benfed, Confed and ECSC — were supposed to procure 1.09 lakh tonnes of paddy from the farmers in Burdwan, where a number of debt-ridden farmers had committed suicide allegedly because they did not get the right price for their paddy. But till February 28, the three agencies could procure only 17,910 tonnes of paddy from the district’s farmers.

“The situation in Hooghly is similar. The three agencies were supposed to procure 57,750 tonnes of paddy from the farmers. But till February 28, only about 800 tonnes were procured. The situation is no different in Nadia and South and North 24-Parganas,” said an official.

The state food and supplies minister, Jyotipriyo Mullick, said: “These three agencies could not meet their procurement target because of funds shortage.”

Procurement policies are not alone to blame. Fertiliser prices, over which the state has little control, have been moving up. Although fertilisers are subsidised, the prices fluctuate depending on raw material costs.

“A 50kg bag of urea used to cost Rs 280 a year ago. Now it costs nearly Rs 450,” said an official.

Farmers said that many of them did not want to risk cultivating the boro crop.

“I could not sell the earlier aman crop, which will be about 60 quintals. So, I did not want to take the risk of cultivating boro on my six-acre plot,” said Sheikh Haiatul Arfin, 35, of Chandanpur in Burdwan’s Galsi.

Seventy-year-old Tarak Dey, in Hooghly’s Haripal, too, refrained from cultivating the boro crop. “It is not possible for us to profit from the boro crop because of the high prices of fertilisers,” said Dey, who owns two acres.

All of which suggests that piecemeal government intervention cannot make farming sustainable in Bengal. But the government has so far not come up with any plan through which it can help step up growth and plough the resultant dividends into its focus areas.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY INDRANIL SARKAR AND UTTAM DUTTA IN BURDWAN AND CHINSURAH

The Telegraph, 1 April, 2012, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120401/jsp/frontpage/story_15320743.jsp#.T3fNPIGbCkw


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