A surplus of problems

Published : Mar 12, 2004 00:00 IST

in Hapur

IN Hapur, a fertile agricultural belt in western Uttar Pradesh, a bumper harvest of sugarcane and potato has given much anguish to the farmers, for there are no returns.

Mahendra Singh Tyagi, a well-off farmer of Sikhera village, said that the farmers had put in their best and increased production of foodgrains and cash crops but were unable even to recover the cost in the absence of a good market for them and efforts by the government to purchase their produce. The plight of sugarcane and potato farmers, he said, was particularly bad as they produced perishable commodities.

One comes across harrowing tales of misery in this part of the State. Standing sugarcane crops on thousands of acres were burnt because there were no buyers and the field needed to be cleared for the next crop. Potato farmers are forced to throw their produce back into the field so that they could at least save the cost of manure.

Farmers in this region had shifted to sugarcane and potato because wheat and rice were not fetching remunerative prices. With the sugar mills lifting barely 40 per cent of the sugarcane crop, they are forced to sell their produce at dirt-cheap prices to jaggery-making crushers. "We are forced to sell sugarcane to these crushers because even if the price is low at Rs 40-45 a quintal against Rs.75-95 paid by sugar mills, at least the crushers pay immediately and it takes care of our urgent needs," says Tyagi. But even farmers like him are hard-pressed for money because they just do not get good returns for their produce even at the best of times. Besides, the payment from the sugar mills is staggered, which compounds their problems. "My last year's dues, roughly Rs.40,000, have been cleared only now. As for this cropping season, which is already into its fourth month, I still have not received a single paise," he says. Tyagi has had to postpone his daughter's marriage for want of money.

The plight of marginal and small farmers is even worse. Manbeer Singh of Duhri village in Pilkhuwa laments that "farmers have been ruined". He has taken up odd jobs to make ends meet. In family after family, one hears stories of marriages getting postponed, ailing people going without medicine and children's education suffering.

The Central government claims that it announced a "one-time assistance of Rs.678 crores to the State governments to mitigate the hardships of sugarcane farmers who have not been paid sugarcane arrears for the 2002-03 season by private sector sugarcane factories in Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Bihar, Punjab and Haryana". (Of this, Rs.480 crores was meant for Uttar Pradesh.) None of the State governments has accepted this "one-time assistance" because, for one, it is conditional and takes away the State's right to declare a State Administered Price for all times to come, and two, it is a "soft loan" repayable in 10 years, not an aid package.

The area from Pilkhuwa to Garhmukteshwar in Hapur is known for its good potato crop. But now everywhere one comes across mounds of potatoes in the fields. Reason: there are no takers. Farmers are forced to sell the produce at Rs.100-150 a bag of 80 kg. They cannot afford to keep the crop in cold storage, as it is expensive at Rs.70-75 a quintal. Besides, even storing it for a while does not help fetch enough returns. Bishan Singh Tomar of Duhri village paid Rs.75 a bag for storage but was forced to sell it later at Rs.40.

There is no denying the fact that the farmers are facing the problem of plenty. The government could have helped by arranging to purchase the crop and exporting it, as a big market exists abroad for Indian potato. But nothing has been done.

According to Dr. S.M. Paul Khurana, Director, Central Potato Research Institute, Shimla, India stands fourth in the matter of area under potato cultivation and third in the matter of production, but the country's average share in world potato exports during the period between 1949 and 2000-01 was only 0.5 per cent.

The average yield a hectare grew from 6.58 tonnes in 1949 to 18.23 tonnes in 2000-01. Had the government thought of an export-oriented mechanism, the potato farmers would have been spared the problem of plenty. There exists a vast market for export because Indian potato is harvested in January-March when fresh potato is not available in most of the countries in the northern hemisphere.

The much-talked-about crop insurance remains only an idea in the villages. It comes into effect only in the event of crop failure, not when there is a bumper crop. Faced with the unremunerative prices, certain farmers have shifted to medicinal plants such as Ashvagandha and safed musli, which are used in Ayurvedic medicines.

Devendra Tyagi of village Imtori Amanpura, who grows medicinal plants, says he is not sure how much the Ayurvedic companies will pay. An advocate by profession, Tyagi can be called a prosperous farmer, but he too is neck-deep in debt because of the low rate of returns from agriculture. He invested Rs.30,000 in a digger for potato digging and employs other modern means of cultivation. But he has not been able to recover the seed money.

Not everyone can afford to shift to medicinal plants. Ashvagandha seeds, for example, cost Rs.350-400 a kg and its cultivation is labour-intensive and expensive. Besides, there is no guarantee of good return. The result is, farmers are shifting back to foodgrain cultivation. "One can at least store foodgrains at home even if one can't sell them immediately," argues Bishan Singh Tomar, although even wheat does not fetch remunerative prices despite the government claims of an increase in the market price. The reason for this is that there are not enough purchase centres and farmers are forced to sell cheap in the market.

Avnish Nagar, son of a farmer in Sikhera, who is pursuing his undergraduate studies, has decided not to waste his life in agriculture. Tyagi, who left his government job 35 years ago to concentrate full-time on agriculture, is now ruing the day he took that decision. He is determined not to let his son, pursuing an engineering course in Meerut, to take up agriculture.

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