Chhattisgarh: Farm politics in poll season, paddy procurement drops

RAIPUR: Amid paddy politics taking centre stage this poll season in Chhattisgarh, paddy arrival in the Mandis have drastically declined apparently after the Congress announcement to increase minimum support price (MSP) of paddy and to waive off farm loans within 10 days after formation of its government by next month.
Since paddy procurement began from November one, paddy procurement under MSP has declined by 50 per cent during the last 19 days as compared to these days in 2017, Nodal agency MARKFED’s Raipur district Marketing officer N K Dewangan confirmed.In 2017-18, 10, 47,454 metric ton (MT) of paddy was procured in first 19 days whereas this year only 4,67, 438 MT of paddy was procured across the state from Nov 1 to till date, officials confirmed.
In Raipur district, only 36,972 MT of paddy has been procured from Abhanpur, Dharsiwa, Aarang, Tilda and Raipur till date clearly indicting that there is a significant drop in arrivals of paddy in Mandis after both BJP and Congress came up with the manifestos for the on-going elections.
Political observers are keenly watching whether this drop in procurement is an indication that the farmers are not selling their paddy stock, hoping that the MSP of paddy could increase after formation of the government. They feel that the Congress poll promise to give a support price of Rs 2500 per quintal and to waive off farm loans within 10 days after formation of its government could have motivated the farmers to hold back their stock till formation of the new government.
Before the declaration of code of conduct of elections, the Raman Singh government had decided to start paddy procurement from November one this year instead of November 15, the date when paddy procurement began in 2017. The state government had also decided to give a bonus at the rate of Rs 300 per quintal, along with MSP of Rs 1750 for B quality and Rs 1770 for a quality per quintal of paddy sold under MSP.
Admitting less flow of paddy to the Mandis, a farmer from Mahasamund Vireen Singh told TOI its a fact that farmers must sell off their paddy stock well in time before its loses its quality, without waiting for implementation of poll promises.
However, Chhattisgarh Bharatiya Kissan Sangh president Suresh Chandrawanshi said paddy procurement has been advanced by 15 days because of the elections. One of the reason for decline in procurement is that paddy gets harvested and sorted only by mid of November, he said adding that influenced by Congress announcement to give an MSP of Rs 2500 per quintal, many farmers could have stocked paddy to sell at higher MSP after declaration of result.
Kissan Congress president Chandrashekhar Shukla said, "This is a misconception that MSP is decided by central government, it definitely decides a certian rate". However, if Congress forms the government the state will pay the difference to make MSP Rs 2,500. Besides the Congress government will clear the unpaid bonus of the last two years, waive off cent per cent farm loan and buy total quantity of paddy as Raman Singh government procures only 15 quintals paddy per acre.
During his electioneering, Congress president Rahul Gandhi had repeatedly stressed that farm loans would be waived off within 10 days after formation of the government.
However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during an election rally in Mahasamund, accused the Congress of playing the game of promises at the time of elections. He said whenever there are elections, they come up with such promises saying that the Congress governments did nothing for the welfare of farmers when they ruled the country for four generations.