Farmers Movement Archive

Slow start amid hiccups in Haryana

Amid the Covid-induced lockdown, wheat procurement began in Haryana on April 20. Among the major hurdles which resulted in slow harvesting and procurement are shortage of labour for harvesting, rain and thunderstorm during harvesting, invitation to a limited number of registered farmers through phone calls or SMS to purchase centres for selling their produce, names of registered farmers ‘missing’ from the e-kharid portal of the Haryana Agricultural Marketing Board (HSAMB), and opposition to e-procurement by the arhtiyas.In the first three days, the procurement process started at only about half of the purchase centres across the state.During this period, around 44,000 farmers turned up at these purchase centres and around 53 lakh quintals of wheat was procured. Now, the state government has chalked out a plan to involve panchayats and farmer producer organisations (FPOs) in procurement to speedup the process.“I have not received any message from the Market Committee or the arhtiya concerned so far, though I have harvested the crop on about 20 acres and am already registered,” says Sunil Bisla, a farmer from Dayalpur village of Faridabad district. “I do not even know how long I will have to wait in view of the threat of inclement weather,” he adds.Expressing resentment over the system of inviting only those farmers who were registered on the portal, Rattan Mann, state president, Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU), says there should be a provision of issuance of passes to the farmers who have already cultivated their crop. “A majority of the farmers have been facing the problem as they are illiterate and have no knowledge of the system. They have already harvested their crop and have no storage space. I request the government to provide gate passes to these farmers also,” he demands. The number of farmers at each purchase centre should be increased, he says.Arhtiyas allege irregularities in the issuance of tokens to farmers. “Only 15-20 per cent of the commission agents are getting work, while others are left jobless as only 50-100 farmers can sell their produce in a single day,” says Devash, a commission agent from Faridabad.The move to allot purchase centres to arhtiyas by the HSAMB authorities is also not going down well with the agents in almost all districts of the state. “The department has dedicated rice mills which have limited space, while the number of arhtiyas is high. The department should raise the number of arhtiyas in the grain markets,” says Rajnish Choudhary, president, Karnal Arhtiyas’ Association.“There are some issues with the Meri Fasal, Mera Byora portal. “The J and I forms of April 20 are not getting generated. We have raised the matter with the marketing board, but to no avail. Farmers are not getting messages in time,” says Dayal Chand, president, Arhtiyas’ Association, Thanesar grain market.“e-procurement is a major issue for the commission agents. The market committees have been sending messages to the farmers asking them to bring their produce, but the latter have been claiming that they get messages during odd hours. It is better if the work of calling farmers is given to the commission agents. We have been doing procurement, but if this issue is resolved, things will get much easier,” says Dolat Ram Bansal, a commission agent in Kurukshetra.Most farmers do not have sufficient space to store the produce till their turn comes at the purchase centres. In some districts, farmers are in a hurry, while in a few they are withholding their produce. Suresh Kumar, a farmer of Dhiktana village in Hisar district, says he brought his wheat produce as he was in need of money. “I need money for domestic purposes and also to prepare for the kharif season. I arrived in the Hisar mandi and the purchase process started almost immediately,” he says.Information gathered by The Tribune revealed that maintaining social distancing among farmers, arhtiyas and labourers is still a challenge at purchase centres. Thermal scanning of the farmers is being done at the entry gates of the purchase centres, but sanitisation of the vehicles of the farming community is not being done in a majority of the grain markets. The authorities have to struggle to enforce the guidelines of wearing masks and gloves by the labourers, arhtiyas and farmers.Raj Kumar Beniwal, chief marketing enforcement officer (CMEO), HSAMB, says the slow procurement in the initial days is due to the strike by arhtiyas at various purchase centres. “We have made all arrangements at the purchase centres. Instructions have been issued to the officials for ensuring sanitisation and other safety measures to curb the spread of Covid,” he adds.

The Tribune

2020-04-27