Cotton crisis

The violence in Wani on December 8 has its roots in the grievances of Vidarbha's cotton farmers.

A FIRE was still smouldering under the burned papers and broken furniture in a room at Wani's agricultural market office three days after it was put out and the police opened fire to disperse angry farmers who ransacked the office. However, here in Vidarbha, Maharashtra's cotton belt, flames were fanned much before the December 8 firing.

The State government started cotton procurement in December, delaying it by two months after the crop was harvested. In several places, procurement centres were yet to open. With their harvest remaining unsold, farmers were restless. The queues lengthened at the few centres that were open, one of which was at Wani.

"There were around 1,500 farmers waiting for four days in the cold with their bullock carts. The State government's cotton federation was not buying all the cotton. Graders would clear one cart and bypass the next four. Finally, farmers got angry with Cotton Corporation of India [CCI] grader [S.K.] Shukla who refused to buy the cotton, saying it was moist. They started fighting with him. He ran into our office and locked himself in. The farmers chased him, set on fire and destroyed the office," said Dr.Moreshwar Pande, chairman of the Wani agricultural market committee. "Obviously, the farmers were livid. They were just asking for their rights." Pande's organisation has suffered the most, yet he is sympathetic to those who ransacked his office.

"It was the fault of the CCI and the [Maharashtra] State Cotton Federation, but we had to bear the losses," said Pande, sitting amongst the ruins in the market yard. "In fact, we were on the phone with a government official, telling him that the procurement situation was bad and that they should enhance facilities, when Shukla came running into the office." The police were called in. Students from a nearby college joined the brawl. It became even more difficult to control. The police fired twice to disperse the crowd. The riot spread to the town centre. Curfew was imposed for three days.

It is the first time that the police have fired on farmers here. There have been 1,200 suicides reported since June 2005. Around 75 per cent of the families (12.75 lakh households) in Vidarbha's six districts are in distress, says a State survey. With three to five suicides occurring every day, bullets will not resolve the unrest.

"What happened in Wani can happen again anywhere if the State doesn't give us a fair price for our cotton, doesn't grade it correctly, and keeps making us wait for days on end," said U.N. Sur, a farmer who has been waiting for three days at the Shindola procurement centre in Yavatmal with his three bullock carts. After the Wani tension, there has been a temporary reprieve. "They have stopped private traders from operating here since there is not enough storage space for State purchasing. See how fast they are clearing all the bullock carts now. Earlier, they were just harassing us," Sur said.

"In this yard, private traders began buying cotton in October, but the government has only started procurement now," said Namdev Nimkar, who has been waiting in the Shindola yard for six days. "If they had started sooner, there would not have been such a crowd. But the State does not want to buy cotton. They want to keep us in the clutches of traders." Currently, the State is procuring cotton at rates ranging from Rs.1,700 to Rs.1,990 per quintal. Traders are buying at around Rs.1,800 to Rs.1,850. When you agree to sell and unload the cart, they lower the price to Rs.1,750, and over that you have to pay them a commission. That is why we prefer to sell to the government," said Sur.

Private traders have already bought 44.74 lakh quintals, while the State Cotton Federation has only procured six lakh quintals.

"This is the game the traders are playing. They buy up all the good quality cotton and then leave it to the State to buy the lower quality and suffer the losses," said Sudhir Goyal, Divisional Commissioner of Amravati.

"The traders and the corporate sector are to blame. They create a psychology of surplus and exhaust farmers until they accept a lower price. Why don't the textile mills buy directly from farmers? The textile mill lobby is highly organised and makes sure they get cotton dirt cheap." A metre of ordinary cheap cotton costs Rs.50, but the farmer gets only Rs.5 of this, he pointed out. "The clothes that we wear are stained by the blood of farmers," Goyal said.

"In Wani, farmers' anger was not directed at us, but at the CCI and private traders. We are unnecessarily being blamed," said Dr.N.P. Hirani, Chairman of the Maharashtra State Cotton Federation. "The farmers got angry because the CCI does only selective purchasing. On that day in Wani, they purchased only 50 carts while 500 were waiting. It is not our fault that procurement is low. Farmers prefer to sell to traders and the CCI because they get immediate payment, while we pay after 15 days. Also, we deduct half their bank loan repayment, while they do not."

Hirani said that the State could not procure more because of power cuts. "Ginning factories can only work one of three shifts. They are processing the purchases at a quarter of their capacity. There is no place to store the cotton. That is why we cannot purchase more," he said.

Maharashtra's Monopoly Cotton Procurement Scheme was introduced in 1972 to assure a fair and stable price to cotton farmers and protect them from traders who rigged the market. The State government set up a network of procurement centres to buy cotton directly from farmers and eliminate middlemen. The scheme started making losses after 1995 when the price of cotton collapsed in the world market. The government was buying at a price higher than the market rate. Since then, every government has tried to dismantle the scheme, denying farmers the only protection they have.

Procurement prices have been lowered to cut losses. "In 2001, the State government offered up to Rs.2,700 a quintal. Now, it is less than Rs.2,000. How are farmers supposed to survive when the prices of everything else are rising?" asks Vijay Jawandhia, Shetkari Sanghatana leader.

The Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance promised a cotton price of Rs.2,700 a quintal before the elections. But when it came to power, it lowered the price from Rs.2,250 to Rs.1,750. "What is Sharad Pawar doing as Minister for Agriculture? He is only safeguarding his constituency and the sugar lobby," said Ganesh Nagure from Mendoli village in Yavatmal.

When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh toured Vidarbha in July, he announced a Rs.3,750-crore `package' for its 30 lakh farmers in distress, including an interest waiver and an order to banks to issue loans. But he glossed over the crux of the farm crisis - prices. While the cost of production has risen, prices have fallen. Farmers are finding it difficult to make ends meet and are driven deeper into debt. Issuing fresh loans just saved them from the moneylenders this time around. But what happens at the end of the season when the farmer once again cannot pay back the loan? The pressure to pay up has driven several farmers to suicide, leaving their wives and children to take on the burden.

Dinesh Gogul's family has been left without a breadwinner for a different reason. He left his village to sell his cotton and returned a dead man: he was felled by police bullets in Wani. His family is still reeling under the shock. "My son is only 12 years old and my in-laws are old. How are we going to survive?" asks Savita, his 32-year-old widow.

When trouble broke out in Wani, State Home Minister R.R. Patil was only three hours away, attending the State Assembly session in Nagpur. But he did not bother to visit the site. Instead, he hosted a dinner party for journalists at his bungalow that night, while the flames in Wani were still being doused. Two days later, he arrived at Savita's doorstep with a cheque for Rs. 300,000.

Dinesh's son inherits a grim legacy of loss. His generation is likely to witness growing restlessness as deprivation deepens. Wani may be just the beginning. The fire is still quietly smoldering.