Pick-up delay triggers farmer suicide

Though the region has a dismal agricultural average of 3 quintals/acre, most farmers have reaped less than a quintal of crops. Crops like pulses have had the worst results.

Further, though more than 8,500 villages have been declared scarcity-hit, aid deadlines are yet to be set. The pre-poll government assurance of Rs 1,000/acre returns, too, is yet to be realised.

With rabi prospects looking bleak, the delay in cotton procurement and payment—the purchase began on November 8, a month behind schedule—was just the last straw for Bonde.

Add to that the usual malpractices at the Maharashtra State Cotton-growers’ Cooperative Marketing Federation programme: Farmers here complain of waiting for days with their cotton-laden bullock carts; some even speak of fire being set to produce worth crores to disguise grading discrepancies.

Some of the problems arise from the Federation’s decision to retire 4,000 of its 4,750 employees in 2003, two years after the government allowed private purchase at higher rates. The slack open market this year, coupled with the high government offer of Rs 2,500/quintal, however, has driven farmers back to the Federation yards.

Ask Federation general manager G H Vairale about the hundreds of bullock carts clogging the yards, and his answer is ‘‘excessive rush’’. Farmers, however, allege a deliberate go-slow, which will allow a cash-strapped government to step back on procurement. The government needs Rs 3,000 crore to buy the estimated 125 lakh quintals.

To validate their case, farmers refer to November 22, when ‘‘crowding’’ led the Federation to close the centre. A rasta-roko forced the authorities to re-open.

Attitudes like this led to Bonde’s death, allege his friends and family. According to his sons Gajanan and Anil, their father had run up bank and private debts totalling Rs 2,15,000. He sowed his 15-acres of land four times this year, and reaped only 22 quintals of cotton from 10 acres, against 50 quintals in a ‘normal’ year.

‘‘He often told me that his heart pounds with anxiety,’’ says his widow Vimal. ‘‘They made him wait for four days in the yard, we got the procurement serial number the day after he died.’’

Pandharkawda APMC chief Prakash Mankar, however, denies this. ‘‘Bonde entered the yard a day before he committed suicide. The delay reports are not true,’’ he says.

But scenes at a number of procurement centres The Indian Express visited indicate the rot runs deep. At Wadner in Wardha district, Zamdeo Kosurkar’s cart was cleared on the fourth day. For those days, he kept shuttling between Wadner and his Ajansara village, 11 kms away, spending precious money on bus tickets and wasting mandays.

Dilip Bomble of Shirasgaon and Devidas Ikhar of Hivra underwent a similar ordeal. Like many, they brought hired tractors loaded with their produce—and ended up paying the equivalent of a quintal’s price as halting charges at Rs 500 a day.

Then there are the grading issues. ‘‘Last year, Cotton Corporation selected Wadner as a top high-grade purchase centre. This year grader M K Mahant hasn’t given anyone the highest H4 grade that fetches the top rate of Rs 2,500,’’ says a local authority without wanting to be named.

Despite the widespread dissension, the state has stuck to its clause of deducting 50 per cent of the payable amount towards loan repayments. Traders are taking advantage of the situation, by paying tired farmers the market rate (Rs 1,500-2,000) and pocketing the surplus. ‘‘So we gain nothing,’’ says a farmer .

Ironically enough, the government has made no payments so far, though it has started earning by selling the bales. On November 8, Federation chairman N P Hirani had promised the first of three instalments within 15 days.

Contacted yesterday for his comments on the procurement turmoil, he told this paper, ‘‘I’ll talk about all that later, since I’m busy with the Legislative Council polls.’’

On Thursday, he counted his votes and won the Yavatmal seat. The farmers, though, are still far from counting their hard-earned cash.