Farmers Movement Archive

Amid pandemic, Barnala farmer cuts out the middleman, doubles income

Barnala: Hailing from a well-off family, farmer Sukhwinder Singh feels no shame in pitching a makeshift stall by the roadside to sell family-grown vegetables among other vendors, many of them migrant workers, at a temporary vegetable market in Barnala. Occasionally, the 30-year-old man from Harigarh village carries bundles of vegetables, tied on the seat of his motorcycle, to go nearly 20km away to sell his produce in Barnala town in the evenings. Sukhwinder, whose friends call him Sukhi Shergill, grows coriander, maize, corn and spinach on two acres and has been “direct marketing” his produce, without any middlemen, for “some months” now. Sukhi, who has a diploma in agro chemicals from Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), says he is able to earn twice of what he would have earned if he would have been selling through a middleman, or what is colloquially called the arhtiya. Sukhi says he makes about Rs 1,500 a day and wants more farmers to sell their own produce for the benefit of consumers and the farmer. During the day, Sukhi sells vegetables on the Bathinda-Zirakpur national highway, right next to Harigarh. Sukhi’s brother has been living in California, US, for eight years and is a transporter there. Before Sukhi started selling his vegetables, he was in the US. His family owns 10 acres of farmland. Barnala chief agriculture officer Baldev Singh says youngsters like Sukhwinder infuse new hope, especially at a time when almost everyone wants to move abroad. “If these youngsters stay back and work in innovative ways, they can earn handsomel,” he says. ‘Not much idea of farm ordinances’ Sukhwinder Singh does not have much idea about the Centre’s ordinances — Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion & Facilitation) Ordinance 2020 and Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance 2020 — that allow free inter- and intra-state sale of agriculture produce without going to notified mandis and sale of crops to buyers at a pre-decided price. “I don’t have much idea. But, if the farmers get remunerative prices for their produce at their own place without any taxes, growers could earn more,” he said.

The Times of India

2020-07-25

Chandigarh