High input cost plagues paddy cultivation
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, April 10 2022:
Even as the Government of India has been buying paddy at the minimum support price (MSP) from farmers across the country at the cost of a huge amount every year so as to provide rice to the public under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) and National Food Security Act (NFSA), paddy farmers of Manipur have been facing a serious challenge of shortage of buyers.
Sources informed that the problem faced by paddy cultivators of the State due to shortage of buyers has been growing during since some years back.
The marketing problem faced by farmers is due to high input cost which subsequently raises the prices of paddy and distribution of subsidised rice to the people under PMGKY and NFSA.
Given these facts, economic insecurity endured by paddy cultivators of the State would only get aggravated in the coming years, said the sources.
As compared to other States, cultivation of paddy is much costlier in Manipur.
For example, farmers have to buy Urea at Rs 1000 or more per bag even though its MRP is just Rs 790.It is simply impossible for the farmers to sell paddy to the Government at the MSP fixed by the Government.
In the early 1980s, FCI bought paddy from the farmers of Manipur and the paddy was milled at its Sangaiprou godown.
At that time, FCI had all the equipment for milling paddy.
Farmers did not get much profit when they sell paddy to the Government/FCI.
As such, majority of the farmers were not willing to sell paddy to the Government which ultimately led to the failure of the same initiative.
Even if the Government of India offer to buy paddy at the MSP it fixed, it would be a huge loss to the farmers of Manipur.
All the inputs required for paddy cultivation in the State including mechanised tilling, sowing, transplantation, application of pesticides and harvesting are very costly in Manipur.
There is a huge gap between the total investment and the MSP fixed by the Government of India, said the sources.
Some years back, CAF&PD Department initiated a process to buy paddy from the farmers of the State but the same initiative ended in failure as the paddy prices demanded by farmers were much higher than the MSP.
This absence or lack of market for paddy produced in the State would ultimately prove to be a serious challenge to the State's economy, they opined.
If the State Government or the Central Government does not give subsidy or somehow reduce the cost of paddy cultivation and a vibrant market for paddy produced in the State is not ensured, farmers would be compelled to give up paddy cultivation.
By that time, paddy fields would simply vanish, said the sources.
On the other hand, the Government of India bought 7,07,24,277 metric tonnes of paddy at the MSP from farmers of 24 States and Union Territories for the financial year 2021-22 till February 27 .
The total amount spent by the Government of India in buying paddy was Rs 138619.58 crore.
It included 81,773 metric tonnes of paddy bought from the farmers of Assam and Tripura.
Altogether 96,40,613 farmers of the country were benefited when the Government of India bought paddy from them at the MSP.
The Government of India bought 50,523 metric tonnes of paddy from 7612 farmers of Assam and 31,250 metric tonnes from 14,575 farmers of Tripura.