More centres to ease rush

Parveen Arora

Amid the lockdown to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, the harvesting and procurement of wheat have emerged as big challenges for farmers as well as the government.

Farmers are worried about the non-availability of labour for harvesting, while the government is keen to enforce social distancing for the safety of farmers, labourers, arhtiyas and the employees involved in the procurement process.

Usually, the procurement of wheat starts in Haryana on April 1, but the lockdown has forced the government to put off the process till April 20. The procurement will last till June 30, almost for 70 days, which was earlier limited to 25-30 days.

Procurement of wheat will be conducted at 1,887 grain markets and purchase centres, way above the previous year’s 477 grain markets and centres. For every three villages, there would be a grain market or purchase centre so as to avoid crowding. “To maintain social distancing, only 50-60 farmers will be allowed to bring their produce daily at each purchase centre,” says Raj Kumar Beniwal, chief marketing enforcement officer (CMEO), Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board (HSAMB).

The government is also exploring the option of utilising rice mills and places such as community centres in the villages for procurement.

The government has appealed to the farmers to keep the harvested crop at home before procurement. “We will procure every grain of the farmers, for which we need the support of the entire farming community. They should avoid rushing to the grain markets for procurement,” he adds.

The farmers registered on ‘Meri Fasal, Mera Byora’ portal will get priority in the sale of their wheat. “We will first call the registered farmers. Those who have failed to get themselves registered can do it now as the government has opened the portal till April 19,” he says, adding that the produce of the unregistered farmers would be procured after all the registered ones have been taken care of. He says the payment to the farmers would be made through arhtiyas.

The number of registered arhtiyas is around 40,000 in Haryana, of which only 18,000 are working presently. The unavailability of skilled labourers, who used to come to Haryana from Bihar for cleaning, threshing, unloading and loading the grain, is going to be a big hurdle amid the lack of transportation facility during the lockdown.

“We support the steps to prevent the spread of Covid-19, but the government should ensure the availability of migrant labourers from Bihar and other states,” says Rajnish Chaudhary, president, Karnal Arhtiyas’ Association.

Another commission agent, Rakesh Arora, says the government should increase the labour rates to attract local labour, which usually stays away from this job.

The HSAMB has started approaching the arhtiyas, who will do the mapping of the villages as per the number of farmers attached with them, says Beniwal.

He claims that sanitation and safety standards are being maintained for arhtiyas, farmers, labourers and employees of procurement agencies. “We will ensure the safety of everyone coming to the purchase centres. Before procurement begins, all purchase centres will be disinfected,” he adds.

Ruling out labour shortage , the CMEO says they will hire labour from villages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

Sufficient storage space in Haryana, says FCI

• The FCI claims to have sufficient storage capacity in Haryana for the expected arrival of around 95 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of wheat. The four major procurement agencies have godown capacity of around 130 lakh MT, open or covered, across the state, while the tender process is underway for additional storage capacity of around 20 lakh MT. Presently, 88 lakh MT of rice and wheat have been stored in the godowns of Haryana, which are being shifted to other states under the National Food Security Act, said a senior officer of the FCI, Haryana region.
• He stated that the movement of foodgrain from Haryana to other states had increased due to additional allocation of 5 kg per person of wheat or rice under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Aan Yojana.