In urgent need of money to pay for Haj, Abdur Razzaq, a resident of Murad Bas village in Nuh, sold off his mustard crop to a commission agent at the new grain market here for a price far lower than the minimum support price as the Haryana government is yet to begin the procurement process.
Accompanied by his farmer sons and two grandsons, Abdur, on Friday sold off around 26 quintal of mustard from his two acre land at ₹3,150 per quintal — much lower than the ₹4,425 per quintal MSP fixed by the Haryana government for the crop this year. Abdur said he suffered a loss of around ₹26,000 but had little choice as the government was yet to announce even the schedule for procurement.
“I had to pay ₹2.40 lakh for Haj today (Friday). So I could not wait even for a single day,” said Abdur, sporting a white flowing beard.
His son Javed, with a land holding of only half an acre, also sold off his entire produce — around four quintals — at the same rate as his father. He too had to repay a loan of around ₹7,000, contribute to his father’s Haj and also had some other immediate expenses to take care of. He said he had borrowed money from private lenders for irrigation and seeds and had to repay them.
Kisan Credit Card
Javed said he did not know the procedure to procure the Kisan Credit Card. “I have heard about the Kisan Credit Card, but do not know how to procure it,” he said.
Bustan, an elderly farmer from Salaheri village, too sold off his mustard from over an acre of land — around six quintals — at a price almost ₹1,000 per quintal lesser than the MSP. “Farmers with small land holdings cannot afford to wait for the government to start the procurement. Most of them sell off their crop soon after harvesting. It is only the big farmers who avail of the government’s procurement policy,” chipped in Aas Mohammad, another farmer. He added that almost half the farmers in Nuh district who produce mustard sell off their produce by mid-March every year while the procurement starts only in April.
He said the farmers could not afford to wait for the government to start the procurement as they had no storage facility, had loans to repay and many other expenses to meet. Also, the government agencies had procured mustard at only two of the four mandis — Tauru and Punhana — last year and not at Nuh. “We don’t even know when the government would start the procurement process and whether it would buy mustard at Nuh or not,” said Aas Mohammad.
Besides, the commission agents make immediate payment while the payment from the government takes weeks. This too discourages farmers from selling their produce to government agencies.
Sitting in a huddle with other commission agents sipping tea, Laxman Kumar, 62, himself a commission agent, lamented that business was slow this year and the mandi, usually abuzz with activity during this time of the year, wore a deserted look.
“The commission agents are too busy to find time even for meals during this time of the year, but now they are sitting idle. It is partially because the unexpected rain has delayed the arrival of mustard, and also because mustard production is less this time round. The farmers, helped by better irrigation facilities, have shifted to wheat,” said Laxman.
The agents said starting the procurement process early could be of little help this time round as the mustard arriving in the mandi had 20-25% moisture while the government bought it only at 7-8% moisture.
Few takers for scheme
As per the policy, the Haryana government procures the crop of only those farmers who have got themselves registered under the “Meri Fasal Mera Byora” scheme, but only 8,203 farmers in Nuh district with a total area of 40,220 acres have registered themselves this year. A market committee employee said the government publicised the scheme, made announcements in the villages and extended the deadline several times, but still people were reluctant to get themselves registered. It was partially because Nuh is a Muslim-dominated region and they have little faith in the BJP-ruled government and also because most of the farmers took the land on lease for agriculture and did not actually own it.
No date for procurement
District Food and Supply Controller, Nuh, Seema Sharma told The Hindu that the department had received a letter on Thursday evening designating Tauru and Punhana mandis for procurement of mustard but no date was provided to initiate the process. She added that there was also no word on the policy for procurement.
