Odisha out of sync with its farmers?
On Saturday, Odisha’s Cooperative Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain announced that the government will not procure paddy beyond June 30—the last date scheduled by the Food Corporation of India for rabi season—since over 90% of the registered farmers were done with selling their produce. The declaration came amidst a spate of intense agitations across the state, with the BJP in the lead, over alleged gross irregularities in mandis as rice farmers claimed they have been left high and dry with too much unsold paddy. Farmers are a very crucial constituent in the voters’ mix in Odisha and with panchayat polls due next year, no party wants to lose sight of them. The BJP knows that the BJD’s Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme, unveiled before the 2019 polls, turned out to be a game-changer of sorts. Caught in the political crosshairs are farmers, but their problems seem to be far from over. When kharif procurement ended earlier this year, farmers were out dumping their produce onto the streets with the same complaints—a flawed system that keeps them at the mercy of primary cooperative societies. The government has time and again come up with the same answer—procurement target has been reached, which turns out to be more than the previous year. If everything is hunky-dory with the system, why are farmers up in arms every year? Paddy procurement in Odisha is a massive Rs 14,000 crore annual business. A large chunk of the farming community is stuck to it because it has an MSP attached, unlike the larger basket of commodities for which the Centre offers support price.
At least four departments—Agriculture, Cooperation, Civil Supplies and Revenue—deal with it at different stages, but farmers have none to vent their grievances to. District Collectors do not meet them; farmers cannot access the bureaucratic top brass; systems designed for them are too one-way in nature. What is more baffling is no attempt is being made to understand if their complaints are genuine or driven by vested interests. Those who feed millions deserve that much attention at least.