Assam needs to overhaul its paddy procurement

The economy of Assam is primarily agrarian and therefore increasing the purchasing capacity of the farmers is critical to revival of the economy. Procurement of marketable surplus paddy is the most effective channel of putting more money in the hands of the farmers. Ironically, the procurement of paddy by Food Corporation of India (FCI) or the state agencies has been abysmally low even though Assam figures among the top ten rice producing states in India. This results in rice farmers being left without the capability to negotiate with the traders or the middlemen for a remunerative price of their surplus paddy or milled rice. Official statistics of paddy procurement status of the Assam State Agricultural Marketing Board (ASAMB) show that actual procurement fall much below the targets set for each year. Against the target of 25000 MT only 5892 MT of first crop of paddy was procured through 26 different paddy procurement centres in the state during 2019-20. Assam has 109 paddy procurement centres. In 2017-18, against the target of 31,000 MT of first crop only 5261 MT was procured while in case of second crop no procurement was made against the target of 12000 MT in the same year. Under the price support scheme, the FCI procures paddy from farmers in their notified procurement centres and the ASAMB procures paddy in their notified procurement centres. The ASAMB supplies the custom milled rice to the FCI for routing it to the central pool for distribution under various welfare schemes through the public distribution system. The State Government entrusted paddy procurement under Kharif Marketing System (KMS) to the Board in 2012 and released a sum of Rs 13 crore as revolving fund. The Department of Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs notifies the procurement under KMS in November-December. The procurement officials give a particular date to registered farmers to bring their paddy for selling to the PPC. The PCC sends the procured paddy to the rice mill and then the custom milled rice is delivered to the FCI. State-wise figures of procurement of rice by FCI for KMS for 2019-20 show that Assam accounted for 1.63 lakh MT of rice against 108.76 lakh MT procurement in Punjab, 43.03 lakh MT in Haryana, 74.54 lakh MT in Telangana, 53.18 lakh MT in Andhra Pradesh, 16.26 lakh MT in West Bengal and 13.41 lakh MT in Bihar. To draw a parallel, Assam produced 51.60 lakh MT of rice, Bihar produced 79.10 lakh MT while Punjab produced 133.80 lakh MT in 2017-18. West Bengal accounted for the highest production of 149.70 lakh MT and Haryana did not figure among the top ten rice producing states produced 45.20 lakh MT. Minimum Support Price for common grade paddy is Rs. 1868 for each quintal and for grade 'A' is Rs. 1888 a quintal but most of the farmers are selling it for Rs 1200 to 1300 a quintal on an average. During the lockdown period the FCI set a new benchmark of moving 102 train loads carrying 2.8 lakh MT of food grains. Punjab loaded the maximum number of 46 trains followed by Telangana with 18 trains. Wheat and rice were moved from Punjab and Haryana to various parts of the country. These figures explain the disparity in economic condition of farmers in Punjab and Haryana with the farmers in Assam. Successive governments in Assam, irrespective of their political affiliations, are seen focusing on doling out cash benefits in a bid to create permanent vote banks of beneficiaries. The taxpayer's money which is put into the hands of such cash beneficiaries under different schemes rolled out by the government will have been better utilized in strengthening the paddy procurement systems, creating storage facilities, setting up rice millings. More procurement of paddy at government notified MSP will help farmers negotiate a remunerative price for their marketable surplus paddies and prevent distress selling. Besides, a remunerative price will have a major motivational impact for unemployed youth to take up agriculture production for livelihood and boost production to improve the state economy. For the distressed farm families any government scheme that puts cash in their hands brings reliefs as it helps them tide over immediate financial crisis. Once the money is consumed in unproductive expenditures the distressed families are left with no money to invest in any income generating activities and the vicious cycle of poverty and economic backwardness is left unbroken despite the government spending crores in welfare schemes and programmes. Farmers' bodies blame the complicated payment procedures which they say keep the farmers away from participating in the procurement system. Besides, location of the procurement centres is another demotivating factor. The policy makers and executives need to put their heads together to find the lacunae and put in place a farmer-friendly paddy procurement system in Assam.