While the Government has done its bit to boost the output of pulses, it has done little to check the nexus between politicians and grain traders
For several decades, production of pulses in India has fallen substantially short in terms of consumption. This persistent deficit has led to intermittent bouts of spike in prices as imports (needed to plug it) have often come after lag and have failed to reach consumption points in time — courtesy: Handling, storage and transportation bottlenecks.
Pulses are an important source of nutrition, especially for vegetarians. It is also a critical component for the diet of the poor. This nutrition-poor link, which is juxtaposed with hike in price, has also been exploited by opposition parties to take pot shots and tarnish the image of the ruling establishment to secure political mileage (as seen during Assembly elections in Bihar and Delhi, 2015.)
To deal with the situation, the Narendra Modi Government increased the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of pulses by over 15 per cent (for instance, the price of lentil (masur) was raised from Rs 34,000 per tonne to Rs 39,500 per tonne) and also promised the farmers an entire produce at MSP via National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd and other State agencies. It also decided to build a buffer stock of two million tonnes. These measures were intended to incentivise farmers to take up the sowing of pulses on a large scale so that domestic production increases to bridge the gap between demand and supply. The impact was salutary.
During the Rabi season (October 2016-March 2017) cultivated lans of pulses increased to 16 million hectares from 14 million hectares compared to last Rabi (October 2015-March 2016.) Correspondingly, production during 2016-17 is estimated to be 22 million tonnes — an increase of 25 per cent over last year. This, together with close to three million tonne import, has led to excess availability and resultant drop in prices.
While consumers have benefitted significantly due to 40-50 per cent decline in retail price from their peak Rs 125-175 per kg prevailing in 2015, this has brought miseries to farmers who realise price plummeting to level below MSP. For instance, the price of pigeon pea (tur dal) has fallen to Rs 35,000-47,000 per tonne in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra as against MSP of Rs 50,500 per tonne. Gram (moong) is selling in the range of Rs 45,000-50,000 per tonne as against MSP of Rs 52,250 per tonne.
This is because in blatant violation of the commitment given by the Modi dispensation, Government agencies have not come forward in requisite measure to buy (even as Prime Minister announced extension of procurement by a week). If the trend continues, farmers will be disinclined to take sowing of pulses in the next season with potentially steep decline in production. This will be tantamount to grounding the plane even before it takes off. Team Narendra Modi vowed to build farmers’ capacity but it has ended up incapacitating them. The Government promised the farmers a remunerative price/MSP but failed to take steps to ensure that they actually get it. They were assured that all of their produce would be bought at MSP, but procurement agencies did not measure up to the task.
Actually, the problem is much deeper. This has to do with a cozy nexus between politicians and grain traders (in most cases the former also happen to be deeply entrenched in this business) that has existed and flourished for generations. A grain trader has a fundamental interest in ensuring that he minimises his payout to farmer for the grains he buys from him/her. He can succeed in this game plan if farmer is left high and dry by State agencies.
So, he collaborates with the politicians in the ruling establishment to ensure that State procurement agencies remain weak and demotivated. The duo also makes sure that the infrastructure for handling, storage and distribution remains undeveloped/underdeveloped so that even if a policy for effective and timely procurement is laid down, it cannot be executed on the ground. But, for this under-the-table plot, to deny farmers their legitimate dues from selling his/her agriculture produce, how can one explicate procurement of a measly five per cent of wheat produced in Uttar Pradesh by State agencies (it is only now with Yogi Adityanath in-charge — putting farmers welfare first — State Government is gearing up to increase purchase from current 800,000 tonnes to eight million tonnes — 10 times)
Pertinently, it is this all pervasive conspiracy that is also coming in the way of implementing long pending reforms in agriculture. For instance, dismantling of agriculture produce market committee or at amendment to exclude major items from its purview and setting up of private marketing yard is crucial for giving more options to farmers to sell their crop. Yet, several States have not yet carried out these amendments. For the same reason progress in regard to electronic-National Agriculture Market is tardy.
(The writer is a policy analyst)
http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnists/oped/indias-pulse-dilemma.html