Farmers wilt under glutted mandis

Geetanjali Gayatri

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 26

Haryana grain markets are overflowing with wheat, as farmers across the state are queuing up to sell their produce. Thanks to tardy lifting from the mandis, procurement has become a casualty nearly a month after the purchase season took off to a tepid response.

All mandis from Saha’s Mullana Kesri and Kalheri grain markets (Ambala) to Haily mandi in Pataudi (Gurgaon), Sanghi mandi in Rohtak to Mohna mandi in Faridabad are full with foodgrain and more seems to be flowing in, slackening procurement further for the want of space to offload the produce.

Farmers with wheat-laden trucks start reaching mandis in the morning only to return with their produce in the evening since the space in most grain markets has been eaten up by procured foodgrain awaiting lifting.

“First, wheat was not purchased for five days. Now, I have been waiting for the payment of purchased wheat for four days. Since there’s been a delay in lifting wheat, there’s no space to offload the second consignment of my produce in the grain market,” Jaidev, a farmer from Uchana, said. 

Grain drain

The gravity of the matter could be gauged from the heaps of procured wheat lying along the Sanghi-Khidwali stretch of a stormwater drain (drain number 8) in Rohtak, with commission agents (arhtiyas) guarding the grains day and night. Heaps of grains have been dumped along roads in Jasia and other nearby villages of Sanghi owing to the shortage of space in the grain market.

Dharambir Singh of Bhiwani’s Dinod village waited for an entire day to offload his produce in the grain market dotted with mounds of procured grains.

“Farmers are coming to mandis with their produce. There’s no space as the lifting is slow. Procured wheat has been lying unattended for about a week,” Rakesh Kumar, a commission agent, said. Another commission agent said the district marketing board had issued notice to arhtiyas against stocking wheat along roads.

The bribe factor 

In Karnal, nearly 7 lakh bags are to be lifted, while commission agents alleged truck drivers entrusted with transport of foodgrain were asking for bribe. “After apprising Gharaunda legislator Harvinder Kalyan, Principal Secretary Sudhir Rajpal, Cooperative Department, Deputy Commissioner (DC) J Ganesan and others of the matter, drivers continue to demand Rs 4 to Rs 5 per bag for lifting,” said Rajnish Chaudhary, president, commission agents’ association.

Arthiyas in Hisar grain market have decided to suspend operations in the mandi tomorrow (Monday), while the Food and Supplies Department has advised farmers against bringing their produce to mandis on April 27 and 29 with the weather office predicting rain.

Agents worried 

Gurgaon’s Haily mandi has seen no procurement over the past two days, while farmers wait next to sacks with agents refusing to buy grain at government rates, deducting price for husk and seeds.

Commission agents claimed they were expected to buy foodgrain as such, but the procurement agency insisted on buying grains which excluded husk and seeds. “The deduction impacts the final weight, resulting in loss to us,” a commission agent said. Farmers, however, claimed the agents were already making deductions in the payment to them and suffered no loss.

Besides tardy lifting in Jhajjar, rejection of grains by procurement agencies without citing any reason has become a cause for concern for commission agents. “In Rohtak, procurement agencies sent back 10 trucks each carrying at least 500 bags to Jhajjar last week without citing any reason,” said Sajjan Singh, an employee of a transportation agency.

Labour shortage

Shortage of labourers is another cause for concern with not enough hands to fill procured grain into gunny bags, thereby slowing down lifting and, in turn, impacting procurement. “Thousands of quintals of wheat are lying in the open in Jhajjar grain market due to shortage of migrant labourers,” said Suresh Kumar, Jhajjar mandi supervisor.

This is the first time that four state agencies are procuring the entire produce. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) is not in the picture. While slow lifting and the resultant poor procurement multiplied the concerns of farmer who suffered due to unseasonal rain and hail, the prediction of more showers increased their woes. 

Dept contests space crunch charge 

SS Prasad, Principal Secretary, Food and Supplies, said storage was not an issue in Haryana since there was adequate space in mandis. He agreed that lifting was slow and said: “There are two reasons for this — mandis received hardly any wheat after procurement started on April 1. And when the produce started arriving, the arrival that had to be staggered over 25 days arrived in the last 10 days, resulting in a rush.” Prasad further said the number of labourers and trucks employed for lifting were the same as last year. “The concentration of arrival in the past 10 days has upset the calculations.” In view of the rain prediction, he said the department had conveyed to all mandis and commission agents to advise farmers against bringing their produce to mandis on April 27 and 29. “The department is prepared to protect the grains lying in the mandis,” he said.  

Inputs from Ravinder Saini, Sat Singh, Dharmender Joshi, Deepender Deswal, Parveen Arora, Parvesh Sharma, Sushil Manav, Sunit Dhawan, Manish Sarhindi, Bijender Ahlawat, Sumedha Sharma