Another apple season, same old problems : The Tribune India

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Another apple season, same old problems

The apple season started this month, but farmers, traders and arhtiyas are facing the same old woes — they have no bank facilty, no regular water supply and no policeman to provide security at Parala mandi in Theog even after four years, let alone starting cold stores, e-NAM (National Agriculture Market) online trade and processing facilities.

Another apple season, same old problems

Apple growers sell their produce at the local vegetable market of Dhalli in Shimla on Tuesday. Photo: Amit Kanwar



Kuldeep Chauhan

The apple season started this month, but farmers, traders and arhtiyas are facing the same old woes — they have no bank facilty, no regular water supply and no policeman to provide security at Parala mandi in Theog even after four years, let alone starting cold stores, e-NAM (National Agriculture Market) online trade and processing facilities. 

The plight of other mandis is no different in the state. The Agriculture Department is running makeshift apple mandis under sheds and tents from Bhattakufar in Shimla, Solan bypass, Narkanda, Shilaru-Khigsu, Rohru and Guma. 

But the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) and the Agriculture Department have failed to provide basic facilities at these mandis and all talks of starting e-NAM online trade for farmers remain on paper only. 

These mandis can be a boon for small farmers, as they won’t have to go outside the state to sell their fruit. However, they need modern marketing facilities, so that big traders and loaders can come to the apple belt which in turn will give a good price for their produce.

The Solan Mandi is being run from makeshift tents, which are set up on the Solan bypass road every year. There is no registration of “ladanis” or loaders, who come from different parts of the country — some from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and UP among other states. 

Thanks to the apathetic attitude of the state government towards the welfare of farmers, the Parala Mandi faces closure as there are just four arhtiyas operating at this Mandi this season. There is a provision for 50 shops at Parala, but the “Agriculture Department allotted these to influential arhtiyas on roadside private mandis being run from the rooftops of private buildings between Theog and Narkanda”.

Also, APMC, Shimla, did not renew the licences of the erring arhtiyas, who have not paid their dues to farmers. 

The state government had set up the Parala Mandi in 2015 by spending Rs 10 crore providing marketing facilities for apple growers at the doorstep in the apple belt. 

The government planned to construct the Controlled Atmospheric Store (CAS) and a processing unit (to be set up by the HPMC) to make Parala as one stop shop for the apple farmers. But nothing has been done in the past four years, farmers said.

Like other mandis, Parala mandi was started to strengthen the market network in the apple belt. APMCs are also running mandis at Narkanda, Rohru, Bhattakufar, Anni in Kullu, Solan, Parwanoo, Patlikuhal and Bandrol, Bhuntar in Kullu district, Mandi and Takoli in Mandi district to facilitate the apple season in the state. 

e-NAM, a slow start 

The National Horticulture Marketing Board has launched e-NAM, a national agriculture market online electronic trade portal, to break the monopoly of APMCs to give profitable prices to farmers on the basis of actual demand and supply in different markets of the country. But in Himachal, only four APMCs out of 19 have started the e-NAM trade, that, too, on ad hoc basis, as APMCs are inactive on this front so far. These four mandis come under APMC Shimla and Solan districts. 

The e-NAM trade offers transparent and real-time trade of commodities, including fruits and vegetables, offering good prices to farmers. After online auction, farmers get payment online into their bank accounts. 

Dev Raj, APMC, Shimla, secretary, said they have started the e-NAM trade from Dhalli and have elicited good response. “We have made payment worth Rs 16 crore over the last two years to fruit growers,” he said. 

But a majority of apple farmers remain at the mercy of arhtiya-trader nexus that operates in the sabji mandis being run from tents. 

Agri Dept doing more harm

The damage to apple trade is done by the Agriculture Department, which is giving licence to arhtiyas to run the mandis on rooftops on the highway between Theog-Narkanda and Rampur. 

There are 50 shops at Parala mandi, of which only four are being run by arhtiyas. 

“Why is the government not shifting arhtiyas from roadside tents to Parala Mandi?” asked Anup Kumar, a member of the Parala Arhtiya Association. 

“Traders and farmers need a bank and lodging facility here. Why can’t the government open bank branches here and provide police security to loaders and traders from outside, who travel daily to Shimla for banking?” they asked. 

Pending payments

Thanks to the apathetic attitude of the successive governments, hundreds of small and marginal farmers are not getting payments for their produce sold by arhtiyas, which are pending for years. 

Reason: The state Agriculture Department has failed to implement the provisions of the APMC Act, which provides for payment on the same day the fruit/vegetables are sold by arhtiyas. 

“It is a pity that the APMC Act is not being implemented in the state in letter and spirit,” said Sanjay Chauhan, secretary, Kisan Sangharsh Samiti (KSS), which was constituted last year by farmers to put pressure on the APMCs and government to act against arhtiyas, who have faltered on making payments to farmers over the years. The pending dues of farmers run over Rs 50 crore. Two Special Investigation Teams (SITs) were constituted — one at the direction of the High Court and another constituted by the state government to bring the erring arhtiyas to book, he said.

Chauhan charged that many arhtiyas or traders made good money, as they shut shops, fled and set up their other business out of the hard-earned money of farmers, whom they did not pay their dues. This has come to light after SIT investigations. Some arhtiyas are making payments to farmers, but APMCs, mainly of Shimla and Solan, need to take action under the APMC Act, while SIT needs to tighten its noose around defaulting arhtiyas, Chauhan said.

Even arhtiyas are resorting to overcharging from farmers for labour or other false grounds. They are charging Rs 50 per carton in the APMC-run Mandis. This is open loot of farmers with the nexus of APMCs, Chauhan charged, citing copies of the receipts of payment issued to farmers by arhtiyas. APMC does not even bother to depute an inspector to oversee this and checking exploitation of farmers in the markets, farmers said.

President of Dhalli Arhtiya Association, NS Chaudhary, said: “The licences given to some commission agents operating on roadsides should be stopped. The APMC and state Agriculture Department should register traders and give licences to arhityas in designated mandis only, which will earn revenue for it and farmers, traders and loaders will enjoy a fair trade in the markets.” 

Amend APMC Act

The newly constituted federation of nine different apple farmers organisation — Federation of Organisations of Apple Growers of Himachal Pradesh (FOAG) — demand that the APMC Act be amended soon in consultation with farmers to make it farmer-friendly. Secondly, the state government should encourage private mandis for fair competition in markets. The import duty on foreign apples should be increased and restriction on import of Chinese apple should continue, as it was last year,” the federation spokesperson said. 

Unbridled retailers profit 

Though arhtiyas are facing a lot of flak for the exploitation of farmers, retailers are making the most of the profit from consumers. Farmers get on an average Rs 30 to Rs 40 per kg in the market from commission agents, whereas the retailers sell the same fruit in the market to consumers at the rate of Rs 80 to Rs 100 per kg, the arhtiyas said. “Only arhtiyas are targeted, who will check retailers making profit from consumers,” said Prakshit Sood, a member of Arhtiyas’ Association of Azadpur Mandi, Delhi. 

Empty promises 

After being pulled up by the World Bank for “dismal progress” of the Rs 1,134 crore Horticulture Development Project, the state horticulture project development authority has proposed to set up a processing unit at Parala Mandi, two new mandis in Rohru and Kullu and upgrade 12 other old mandis under the Rs 135 crore action plan under the project by March 2019. 

The action plan to speed up the progress of the project was put in place after a team from the World Bank and the officials of the project authority reviewed the progress of the project in a series of meetings held from November 12 to November 16 here in 2018. 

As per the action plan, 12 sabji mandis under the APMC are being upgraded under the project. The two new mandis — one each in Rohru and Kullu — will also be opened under the project this year, for which project reports are being finalised, the project official said. 

The land for setting up the processing unit at Parala Mandi is being transferred from the Agricultural Department to the Horticulture Department. The detailed project report is being prepared for the purpose, the official added.

The agriculture officials pass the buck on the APMCs saying they do not have staff to check private mandis and that they were taking up the matter with the government in this regard, as the licences to private mandis are given by the directorate. 

“But we will act as and when we receive the complaint from farmers against arhtiyas,” said RajinderVerma, officiating Director-in-charge, Agriculture.

The Modi government has increased import duty on apple from the US and stopped the import of Chinese apple. The Jai Ram Thakur government is behind apple growers and will go an extra mile in saving their interest. We will overcome all shortcomings in all market yards to provide marketing facilities to farmers at their doorstep, so that they need not go to Delhi to sell their fruit. Farmers need to come together and focus on producing better quality of fruit to face WTO. Narender Bragta, Former Horticulture Minister

We will act in case farmers are fleeced by arhtiyas. We have directed all APMCs to run mandis as per the APMC Act and check all kinds of malpractices. From April 1 to July 24 this year, 236 farmers participated in online trading worth Rs 3.76 crore at eight different mandis in the state. From 2016 to 2019, as many as 3,063 farmers and 310 traders have participated in e-NAM trading in 19 different APMC markets in the state. The total transaction made was Rs 40.54 crore in this period. We will make e-NAM trading a regular feature soon. RK Kaundal, Managing Director, Agriculture Marketing Board

In a way, the APMC and Agriculture Department are contributing to fleecing of farmers by arhityas. The government is not implementing the provisions of the APMC Act in the sabji mandis to check the malpractices adopted by arhtiyas. The samiti had submitted the charter of demands to Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on how arhtiyas were fleecing and looting farmers in June this year, but the government did nothing to implement the APMC Act in the APMC-run mandis and no bank guarantee of Rs 50 lakh was charged from them. The arhtiyas are paying 30 per cent less for the small sized fruit, as compared with the top quality being sold in markets. They are charging Rs 50 per carton from farmers as labour charges. The farmers are not getting payment even after days from arhtiyas as envisaged in the APMC Act. Sanjay Chauhan, Kisan Sangharsh Samiti (KSS) secretary 

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