After the release of Rs. 18,000 Crore as 7th instalment of PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, several farmers says that the amount must be huge, as this amount is insufficient to compensate for loss of billions of crores due to the negation of assured price for their crops.
Farmers intonated that, instead of being treated as a beggar, they need an assured price for every crop.
Local Traders Purchasing Crops Below MSP
Prakash Bihari, a farmer and labour contractor said, “In our village, there are small and marginal farmers with half to five acres of land. And I get near to 10 quintals paddy from my half acre land. And on an average, we get 20 quintals paddy from one acre. From local trader we get only Rs. 900 to Rs. 1000 per quintal, and if we take our crop to Gulab Bagh Mandi, one of the biggest mandis in Bihar, where traders from Punjab come and procure our crop at the rate of 1,200 to 1,300 rupees per quintal, and then they bring that to Punjab via trucks and trains, and sell in mandis there at full MSP Rs. 1,888 per quintal.
He added that “if my crop was sold at Rs. 1,888 per quintal at MSP in Bihar only, I would have got Rs. 18,880 but, as my crop was sold at Rs. 12,000 to the trader, so I bear the loss of Rs. 6,880. And, talking about the farmers having five acres’ land, they bear even more loss near about Rs. 50 to 60 thousands in just a single crop season.
Now, the question comes that how can I be happy to get Rs. 6000 every year under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi after facing the loss of Rs. 5000 to 6000 from my one crop from half acre land.
Punjab Mandi Board Senior Officer
According to a Senior Officer in the Punjab Mandi Board (PMB), Government also faces the loss of 50 lakh tonnes of Bihar and UP paddy was sold in Punjab’s mandis this year at the rate of MSP by the traders. Although, Bihar and UP farmers did get the little share of MSP, the major share was taken by the traders. And this is happening with every crop as farmers are not getting assured price.
And from Punjab, a maize grower, Karam Singh said that he faced the loss of Rs. 17,000 per acre for selling maize below the MSP of Rs. 1,850 per quintal. He said, “Now how government can make us happy by giving three instalments of Rs. 2000 each, after putting us in such huge losses for thousands.”
Situation of Other Crops
Talking about other crops, then in Kharif and Rabi season, MSP of moong dal was Rs. 7,196 per quintal, and farmers sold it at Rs. 5000 per quintal, and maize with MSP Rs. 1,850, sold by farmers at Rs. 1000 only. And not only this, Sarson with MSP of Rs. 4,650 was sold by farmers at Rs. 3,200 only. Gram sold at Rs. 4,200 per quintal against the MSP of Rs. 5,100 per quintal.
And, on an average, the yield of moong, sarson, gram, and maize on per acre of land is 8 quintals, 7 quintals, 20 quintals, and 5 quintals respectively. So, one can imagine the loss, which is in thousands in one season that farmers are facing per acre by denying the MSP, mentioned Jagmohan Singh, General Secretary Bharti Kisan Union Bank.
For instance, if the calculation will be done more precisely, then one can see that, just by growing moong on 5-acre land, a farmer will face the loss of near to Rs. 80,000 in a single cropping season, which is a huge amount. And if we will calculate the total loss of 9 crore farmers per cropping season, it would be much more than the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme is giving, he added.
“Why government is glorifying PM Kisan Nidhi by giving Rs. 6000 to every farmer while they are losing thousands of crores per cropping season by being denied the right assured price of their crops,” said the Senior Government Officer.
