Farmers Movement Archive

Curbs eased, but all’s not well

IT was a long wait for Arvinder Singh Kalra, a farmer from Luthera village in Haryana’s Fatehabad district, bordering Punjab, to sell his wheat produce. He had harvested the crop on 72 acres on April 15. “I received a phone call for bringing the produce to the grain market on April 22, but due to the arhtiyas’ strike, I had to go back with the crop and store it at my home. I am waiting for a phone call from the market committee for another appointment for selling my produce,” says Kalra, who are among the farmers who have suffered due to the new norms of inviting a limited number of farmers as per the schedule by sending messages or phone calls.The nationwide lockdown owing to the Covid-19 pandemic forced the Haryana Government to delay procurement, which started on April 20, with at least 1,871 purchase centres set up against 477 last year.A cross-section of the farmers says they are among the worst-hit by the lockdown even though they are allowed to continue farm work and sell their produce. They consider restrictions imposed by the government on procurement as an obstacle to the smooth sale of wheat. “No doubt, the government has given relaxations to the farming community to harvest and sell crops, but we had to persuade the police at most of the nakas to let us go out for work in the fields. Due to the lockdown, we are facing labour shortage during harvesting,” says Sewa Singh Arya, former state president, Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU).Mahaveer Dhillon, a farmer from Kirmach village in Kurukshetra district, says the token system of inviting farmers is not fit for small and marginal farmers as they do not have sufficient storage and resources to take their produce to the store room. “I had harvested wheat on 22 acres on April 18, but had to wait for my turn till April 25. I had to store the crop for a few days. The whole process of unloading in the store and later loading with the help of a JCB machine or labour to bring the crop to the grain market has led to extra expenses of Rs 3,500 per tractor-trailer. Earlier, we used to sell our produce on the day of harvesting,” he claims.He says the lockdown relaxations given by the government have helped the farming community a lot in harvesting and around 90 per cent of the crop has been harvested, but selling it is still a challenge for farmers. “Farmers should be called with the consent of the arhtiyas,” he adds.Apart from the lockdown, rain and hailstorm have created hurdles for farmers, not only delaying the harvesting but also reducing the wheat yield by 3-5 quintals per acre and the production of dry fodder by 1-2 trailers per acre. “Rain has hit production and made the grain colourless. I have harvested 16 quintals per acre against 23-24 quintals last year,” says Jitender Kumar, another farmer. He rues that the dry fodder production has reduced to 50 per cent. “Earlier, I used to get about four trailers of dry fodder from one acre, but now I receive only two trailers,” he adds.Farmers of Haryana who have cultivated their crops in neighbouring states, particularly UP, are still waiting for relaxations for bringing their crop to Haryana’s grain markets. “I have cultivated the crop on 3.5 acres at Khorsama village near Badoli and I got a movement pass for UP from the Agriculture Department Karnal, but I could not do harvesting as I am not allowed to bring my crop to Karnal till the procurement of farmers in Haryana is over. My commission agent told me to wait,” says Dilbag Singh, a farmer of Behlolpur village in Karnal.Slow lifting irks Haryana farmersAs per data gathered by The Tribune, 34.22 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of wheat of 3.37 lakh farmers was purchased till April 30 at various centres of Haryana, but slow lifting caused inconvenience. “We admit that inviting a limited number of farmers to sell their crop at purchase centres has posed problems for some farmers, but it was necessary to maintain social distancing to curb spread of the pandemic,” says Raj Kumar Beniwal, chief marketing enforcement officer, Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board (HSAMB).

The Tribune

2020-05-04