BENGALURU: On February 7 in Bidar, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa with much pomp announced that his government would double Tur procurement from 10 quintals to 20 quintals per farmer under MSP (Minimum support price) this year. Three weeks down the line, the reality is in stark contrast.
With the Centre unwilling to yield to Yediyurappa's request to increase the cap on procurement, the Karnataka government is procuring Tur at the same maximum purchase limit of 10 quintals per farmer at MSP of Rs 6100 (Rs 5800 from Centre and Rs 300 from State). Their happiness shortlived, Tur farmers who were in anticipation of great profits thanks to a bumper crop this year, have been forced to undersell their produce to middlemen.
"This is an injustice being meted out to farmers of eight districts in North Karnataka that grow Tur. It is a betrayal by the government. With the government not increasing procurement, farmers who grew 25 quintals for every 5-acre land are today selling Tur at Rs 4,500, Rs 4,300, Rs 4200 per quintal when the cost of cultivation itself is about Rs 5,000 per quintal," said Maruthi Manpade, Vice President, Karnataka lparanthaRaitha Sangha pointing out that Chief Minister's 'on the spot' promise means nothing when farmers continue to be in distress.
3,17,963 farmers have registered for Tur procurement under MSP. If the Yediyurappa's promise of purchasing 20 quintals per farmer had been kept, a total of 63,59,260 quintals of Tur should have been procured. So far, at the rate of 10 quintals per farmer, the State government has procured only 11,70,368 quintals from 1,30,872 farmers.
With March 15, 2020, marked as last day of procurement, the government intends to procure 17,43,581 quintals more from pending 1,87,091 farmers. Despite purchasing limit of 10 quintals per farmer, the State has exceeded Centre's set cap of procurement by 6,38,954 quintals.
"The Centre had first set a cap of 18,28,750 quintals but later increased it to 22,75,000 quintals. We will exceed that limit by 6,38,954 quintals but the State government will spend on it. An estimated Rs 415 crores are required to procure the excess Tur," said ST Somashekhar, Minister for Cooperation.
The minister added that the State government's requests to increase the cap on procurement to 20 quintals per farmer haven't yielded any results from the Centre yet. Farmers have no hopes of the proposal coming through before the end of the procurement deadline.
A query by the Chief Minister's office to foot the costs for procurement of additional 10 quintals over and above existing MSP cap per farmer from State's treasuries is said to have been shot down by the Finance Department owing to the fund crunch that the State is already reeling under. His impromptu decision on the matter has not only left the Chief Minister embarrassed but left farmers in distress despite a good crop season.
In the past as well, Yediyurappa's instinctive statements whether on the announcement of compensation to victims of Mangaluru violence during anti-CAA protests or his reaction to media restrictions in the Legislative Assembly by Speaker Vishveshwara Hegde Kageri have left him gasping for an out. This time, however, it comes with a huge price that farmers are forced to bear.
