Farmers’ Resentment Has Put Nitish Kumar In Tight Spot

By Ashok B Sharma

Farmers’ issue has come to the fore in recent Bihar assembly election. The Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had repealed the State Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act way back in 2006. The farmers in the state are not benefitted by this move, rather they are in a helpless state and are unable to sell their produce at minimum support prices (MSPs) announced by the government. Nitish, while repealing the APMC Act, should have planned the strategy by which the farmers can sell their produces not the below the benchmark prices which in this case are the MSPs. Some states have delisted fruits and vegetables from the purview of their APMC Acts without making adequate provisions in their law whereby farmers can get adequate returns on sale.

Firstly, the poor farmers have no holding capacity or storage for their produces so that they can bargain for prices with the intending buyers. Secondly, farmers usually take loans from private individuals or from banks or financial institutions. They need to be repaid at right time or else the interests on loans will keep accumulating. Hence the poor farmers even make distress sales as they need money for loan repayment and for investing in the upcoming sowing season. Nitish, while repealing the APMC Act, should have thought of creating a vibrant chain of storage and cold storage capacity in cluster of villages, blocks or at district levels. He should have created a good network of rural roads. He should have imposed a penalty for any purchase done below the declared MSP.

This distress of farmers along with the problem of migrants who returned to Bihar, handling of the havoc created by recent floods and coronavirus crisis and the prevalent joblessness are being echoed in the election campaign much to the discomfort of Nitish Kumar.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not learn from Nitish Kumar’s experiment of repealing the state APMC Act. He, however, allowed the APMCs to stay in states. He in the name of “liberalisation” and doubling farmers’ income allowed them to sell their produces outside the APMC area. This again lacks proper strategy for implementation. True farmers can sell their produces to corporate houses or firms or to any individual. But at what prices? Will there be any gaurantee that purchases will not be done below the declared MSP? Is there any penalty for any purchases to be made below the MSPs? Is there a vibrant network of storage and cold storage capacity in the country where the farmers can store their produces and bargain with the buyer? Is there enough Farmers’ Producer Organisations (FPOs) throughout the country who can bargain with the prospective sellers? These are unanswered questions awaiting answers.

MSPs are declared for only 22 crops. The government claims that it has raised the MSPs by 150 per cent as per the recommendations of the Swaminathan panel. Purchases are done by government agencies only for two principal crops – wheat and rice or paddy at the APMCs. Pulses and onions are procured by cooperatives, by way of market intervention, only at the times when prices crash.