Fascination for tractors remains, now for selling

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Barnala, January 23

Rows upon rows of tractors await buyers at one of the biggest tractor mandis in Punjab, a scene replicated every Monday in Barnala. What's peculiar is that everyone, it seems, is here to sell, not buy.

The mandi was started in 1995 by Gurmail Singh, a small-time tractor mechanic from Bhadaur who realised the business potential of selling old tractors. People would come to buy and sell both old and new tractors. It used to be a thriving mandi, he says, till a slump in the last eight to 10 months. "It has been unprecedented," he adds. "All of a sudden, the situation is such that nobody seems to need a tractor. The other mandis I visit are seeing a similar situation."

Nahar Singh, who hails from Bilaspur village, agrees. A trader, he has been associated with this mandi from day one. In his 70s, he made good fortune from the sale of old tractors over the past two decades, but now it is middlemen who hold sway.

He says most tractors here are being offered by farmers who have bought these on loan from either banks or private financiers, but failed to pay 

the instalments. "Almost every tractor here belongs to debt-ridden farmers. But none of them would tell you that he is selling the tractor because of debt," he adds.

Nahar Singh recalls an incident from last week's mandi. A farmer needed money urgently and had brought his HMT 3511 model for sale. There were not many buyers. Someone offered him Rs 30,500, he sold it off and left in haste. "And 15 minutes later, the same tractor was bought by a scrap dealer from Samana for Rs 55,000. Such cases are common," he says.

He points toward a row of brand new looking tractors. "Why are these tractors on sale? If one buys a new tractor, he is expected to drive it for three to four years. They are selling because otherwise they can’t sustain themselves," he says.

According to agriculture experts, the five lakh tractors in Punjab are double the requirement. On an average, the use of tractors in Punjab is less than 500 hours in a year. For these to be considered economically viable, tractors need to be used for at least 1,000 hours a year.

Almost every trader we talk to agrees that sellers are aplenty. The situation has left a mark on the price of tractors as well. "Last year, a tractor that was available for Rs 4 lakh is now available for Rs 3 lakh-3.25 lakh," says Kulwant Singh, a tractor trader from Raikot.

Traders put the drop in the price of used tractors at anywhere between 20 and 30 per cent.

From his years of experience, Nahar Singh says that when a farmer is in crisis, he will first try to sell things like jewellery or other household stuff. "Tractor is a symbol of pride; it is not easy to part with it. Once a tractor is gone, comes land. After land, it is just death," he shrugs. He sounds dramatic, but the situation is anything but normal.

Trend of quitting farming

A large number of farmers have been leaving agriculture, terming it an unviable profession, says a study. Sukhpal, an economist from PAU, Ludhiana, in his study on depeasantisation in 2012-13 found that 14.39 per cent of the farmers had left farming since 1991. "A considerable proportion of marginal and small farmers, who have been pushed out of agriculture, become wage labourers," the study observed.