Sunflower seeds to capsicum: Minimum support price fire is raging

The second of a two-part series looks at the policy lacunae that keep farmers from growing other crops which cut out the need to burn stubble

On April 20 this year, farmers from a number of districts in Punjab gathered on the Bathinda-Mansa National Highway with plastic bags full of capsicums. What followed next left on­look­ers and people driving down the road gobsmacked. The far­mers tipped the ripe capsicums on the highway and watched as vehicles rode over the vegetables and squashed them.

Again, in June, farmers from Punjab and Haryana blocked the Delhi-Chandigarh highway, demanding a minimum support price (MSP) for the procurement of sunflower seeds. Farmers said they were unhappy with the offer of Rs 29.13 crore as interim relief under a scheme that pays a fixed amount of about Rs 1,000 per quintal for produce sold below the MSP.

And therein lies the most important roadblock to crop diversification in Punjab. While growing other crops would solve the problem of crop residue left on the fields after paddy cultivation and hence cut out the need to burn stubble, farmers do not yet have adequate incentives to switch from paddy, which has an MSP, to other crops that do not.

According to a farmer who cultivated capsicums this year, though the price of the vegetable is Rs 30-40 per kg, they have been forced to sell it for Rs 5 per kg, with the price dropping to as low as Rs 2 per kg in some districts in the state.

The issue of the MSP was one of the main reasons for the nearly 15-month-long farmers’ agitation on the borders of Delhi, which finally forced the Centre to repeal the Farm Laws. But farmers say the battle is far from over as there is hardly any implementation of the MSP on the ground.

“The idea of crop diversification is great only on paper. Farmers here would also like to reduce their dependence on just rice and wheat. But since we are dependent on only two crops, we have to re­sort to stubble burning,” says Karamjeet Singh, a farmer from Dehlon district near Ludhiana.

Last year, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab promised to buy moong at an MSP of Rs 7,755 per quintal. But according to data from the Punjab Mandi Board, nearly 60 per cent of the 50,000 quintals of moong that arrived in the state mandis till mid-June this year was bought below the MSP.

“The main problem is procurement by the government. Why should a farmer sow a crop if there is nobody to buy? We produce only what the government buys at the MSP,” says Kulvinder Singh, a farmer from Sangrur.

The location of the mandis has become another sticking point in the diversification of crops.

“If we sow something in Jalandhar, the man­di of the crop might be in Kapurthala, which is nearly 20 km away. Which farmer has the time to load and carry the crops over such a distance? Besides, there is no guarantee that the crop will be sold. Then the far­m­er might have to take it to a mandi in Hoshiarpur, which is 45 km away. Farmers grow a number of crops like po­t­atoes. But we don’t have desig­nated mandis for them and nor MSPs,” says Karamjeet Singh.

While some farmers rue the lack of mandis in their districts, others question the government’s policies to curb stubble burning. Lakhwinder Singh, a farmer in Firozpur, says that there is no clarity on the government giving MSPs for certain crops.

“I grow Pusa-44 (a variety of rice) on most of my farm. In a small part of my land, I grow Pusa-1509. The yield is nearly the same for both the varieties. The difference is that the latter, which matures 10 days earlier, doesn’t have MSP. And the former, which takes longer to produce, has an MSP. Due to the longer harvest time of Pusa-44, we have to burn stubble,” he says.

The AAP government in Punjab banned its cultivation from next year. But it has not yet announced an MSP for Pusa-1509.

However, many farmers have opted for different means of sowing based on the government’s incentives. Last year, the state introduced a scheme where an incentive of Rs 1,500 per acre is to be provided to farmers who grow rice through direct seeding, a process which reduces the time taken for the crop to reach maturity by about 10 days.

But farmers say the whole process is fraught with problems. First, the incentive is paid after a verification by government officials, and if they are corrupt, money goes out of the farmer’s pocket to secure their eligibility for it. Besides, says Lakhwinder Singh, “only a small proportion of the farmers actually get the incentives”. “In addition, direct seeding leads to weeds in the plants. Instead of going through all this, why should we not simply opt for stubble burning?” he asks.

“We keep telling the farmers in our village meetings that, whenever possible, we must avoid burning stubble. The problem is that a majority of farmers own small plots of land. It is impossible for them to buy machines and equipment to avoid stubble burning. As long as nobody helps them, they will keep burning stubble. They have no other choice,” says Karamjeet Singh.