Farmers selling bajra below MSP

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Rewari, October 8

The conditions laid down by the government for the procurement of bajra has made Ahirwal farmers sell their produce to commission agents than the minimum support price (MSP).

“There is no logic behind wasting the time and money in making rounds of revenue office to get the land ownership documents and patwari’s girdawari report to sell the produce. Hence, I have sold my 20 quintals of crop to a commission agent at the rate of Rs 1193 per quintal,” said Narender Yadav, a farmer of Meerpur village.

As many as 94,641 quintals of bajra have so far arrived at grain market in which more than 90 per cent has been purchased by the commission agents for Rs 1190 to Rs 1220 per quintal while the MSP is Rs 1275.

Significantly, the government’s procurement agency, HAFED, is still waiting for its first customer despite deputing its officials in the market to buy the produce at the MSP.

Roshan Lal of Nanda village said “Poor farmers have no other option but to sell their produce to private buyers as they cannot wait for payment for several days. They receive cash payment from the agent and use it for buying seed and fertilizer for the next crop. I sold 18 quintals for Rs 1,176 for the same reason.”

Sudhir, another farmer who sold his 15 quintal produce of bajra in Rs 1200 per quintal, said the government had compelled the poor farmers to face financial loss by imposing illogical conditions and that was why they were not selling it to HAFED this time.

SK Choudhary, District Manager, HAFED, confirmed that not a single farmer had approached them but they were asking the farmers not to sell it below the MSP. The commission agents have already boycotted the procurement process in protest against the selling norms.

Bajra farmers in Jhajjar await procurement

Bhim Singh of the district’s Shahpur village has been waiting for three days at the grain market in Jhajjar for his 65 quintals of bajra to be procured. The hitch in procurement is the non-availability of a laboratory facility in Jhajjar, home town of Agriculture Minister Om Prakash Dhankar, to check the quality of bajra. 

Bhim Singh said officials had taken samples of his produce on Wednesday for quality check and their report was awaited. “Since I cannot leave my produce, I have been staying in the mandi,” he said. And this has its own problem. Mosquitoes trouble him at night, making him all the more anxious. “The authorities are insensitive towards my plight,” Bhim Singh said, adding he did not want to sell the produce to a private purchaser below the MSP (Rs 1,275 per quintal). 

Rajesh Kumar, purchase in-charge at the Jhajjar mandi, said bajra of a good quality was being procured, but samples of some farmers’ produce were sent to the district food and supply’s office on Wednesday to check for quality in a laboratory. “The FCI has set parameters for quality of bajra to be procured. We have to check the quality before purchasing bajra. Laboratory report is awaited,” he added. — Ravinder Saini