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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Post-demonetisation: Punjab farmers weather storm - with help from arhtiyas -Anju Agnihotri Chaba

Post-demonetisation: Punjab farmers weather storm - with help from arhtiyas -Anju Agnihotri Chaba

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published Published on Dec 11, 2016   modified Modified on Dec 11, 2016
-The Indian Express

Credit, payment in old notes from grain commission agents ensures normal rabi planting operations.

Jalandhar:
Punjab farmers have so far got only about Rs 19,350 crore, out of the Rs 24,915 crore that was due for the 16.50 million tonnes paddy they had supplied to government agencies in the recent kharif procurement season at the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 1,510 per quintal.

But even with pending payments of over Rs 5,500 crore for the already sold kharif paddy — and the cash crunch from the overnight demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes on November 8 — farmers have planted wheat in almost the entire 35 lakh hectare (lh) area targeted for the state in the current rabi season. Moreover, 28 lh of this total sowing has happened post-demonetisation.

How the Punjab farmer has managed to complete wheat sowing, amidst an unprecedented demonetisation-imposed cash shortage and not receiving full payments for the previous crop, is a matter of mystery to many.

Seeds for sowing apart, farmers seem to have had not too many problems even procuring fertilisers. The state has an estimated rabi season requirement of 5.5 lakh tonnes (lt) for di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and 8 lt for urea. “90 per cent of DAP, which is applied at the time of sowing itself, has already been lifted. Farmers have also bought over 2.5 lt of urea, for use 20-25 days after sowing along with the first irrigation. We will ensure that they have enough urea also for the second dose after December 15,” claims Jasbir Singh Bains, director of agriculture, Punjab.

The answer to the mystery — how this is turning out to be a business-as-usual rabi season for the Punjab farmer, notwithstanding the most extraordinary circumstances – may lie in the institution of the ‘arhtiya’ or grain commission agent. It is the arhtiyas who seem to have helped farmers sail through in this hour of crisis. The flip side, of course, is that it makes the farmer all the more indebted to this omnipresent intermediary, moneylender and input supplier, all rolled into one.

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The Indian Express, 9 December, 2016, http://indianexpress.com/article/india/demonetisation-punjab-agriculture-farmers-wheat-4417953/


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