STATE LEVEL CONSULTATION OF PUNJAB FOR FEEDBACK ON THE DRAFT NATIONAL POLICY FOR
9. Views of State Govt. representatives
x) Agricultural price and labour minimum wages were decided by Govt. of India. Pay Commission should also look into the living condition, income of farmers and suggest the minimum pay for the farmers also.
xi) Organic farming can give more yield and higher farm income as compared to the ongoing chemical Agriculture..
xii) Agriculture farming should be treated like enterprise, not as a way of life.
xiii) Farmer of Punjab could not transport surplus wheat outside due to stringent provisions in 9th Schedule of Essential Commodities Act. It had acted to the detriment of interest of the farmers in the past.
xiv) PM in his speech on 15.08.2006, mentioned that farmer must get appropriate remunerative price from the market. This must be implemented.
xv) Value addition to agriculture produce by farmers was discouraged. Provision of license for setting up rice mill/huller was cited as an example. Due to all these and lack of access to market, farmers had lost heavily. Hence all loans of farmers be waived.
xvi) When there was shortage in production, Government imports foodgrain at higher price – against the interest of farmers.
xvii) One TV/Radio channel exclusively for farmers should be commissioned both at the Central and State level.
xviii) In contract farming detailed guidelines should be specified to protect interest of farmers.
ii) Employment in industries of local persons should be incentivised fiscally so as to divert people from non-viable agriculture.
iii) Technology be developed for small farmers like organic farming in Cuba.
iv) Rs.17,500 crores loss (approx.) was incurred by Govt. in carrying huge stock of cereal and exporting about 35 million tonnes a couple of years ago, 90% of which was contributed by Punjab. Further, about Rs.14000 crores were spent for import of edible oils and pulses. Against this, had Punjab been provided with the requested assistance of Rs. 7400 crores, the state would have produced the quantity desired by the country and thus avoided the huge loss. With India’s entry into the world market for imports, the international prices are jacked up- hurting both India and other importing developing countries.
v) Drought loss in Punjab was mostly borne by industry due to power cuts etc., but crop (rice) yield increased, hence Punjab was not eligible for drought relief.
Industrial loss be also considered for drought relief. Social loss for paddy produced by Punjab was about Rs.5000 crores per year mainly for using ground water, soil fertility etc. But most of the rice produced in Punjab was going to the deficit States.
vi) Farmer wanted quality electricity, not free power, which was ultimately costlier.
vii) Health service quality has gone down in rural areas. This should be improved.
9.2 Views of Dr. G.S. Kalkat, Chairman, State Farmers’ Commission, Punjab:
i) Financial condition of Punjab farmers had worsened; real income from wheat from 2001 to 2006 had declined.
ii) Definition of small and marginal farmers should be changed. Small farmers should be up to land holding of 4 ha instead of 2 ha. 70% of farmers were small with unviable holdings. These farmers be trained at Government cost for off farm occupations.
iii) Procedure of banks should be farmer friendly. This should be directed more towards small and marginal farmers to improve their income and to diversify the occupations.
iv) Indebtedness Act should be passed to register the village moneylenders and to fix a limit on rate of interest.
v) FCI did not pay to the farmers directly in Punjab. The payment was made through a system of commission agents. This should be changed and farmers be paid directly by FCI.
vi) Capital investment subsidy for small farmers would be more useful compared to subsidy on fertilizers, equipment, electricity etc.
vii) Crop diversification should be encouraged in Punjab urgently with following steps to prevent hydrological suicide: -
a) Law may be enacted to provide that there is no rice transplantation after 10th June.
b) Diversified crops should be procured under MSP and for this purpose Price Stablisation Fund be created.
c) Agriculture for fuel like ethanol from maize or jatropha which will increase farmers’ income by about 20% even if the fuel from this produce is sold @ Rs.18 per kg, should be encouraged.
9.3 Other major suggestions of the State Government:
i) Small farmers need special attention from the commercial and cooperative Banks, which should ensure availability of cheap credit to small farmers in time.
ii) Diversification of paddy area to crops consuming less water should be encouraged in Punjab to arrest depletion of ground water.
iii) Special efforts be made to improve the quality of rural education.
iv) Production of bio fuel from crops like maize with processing facilities should be encouraged.
v) Price stabilization fund should cover losses incurred by Govt. agencies on account of procurement of the crops being promoted by Government.
vi) Criteria for drought relief should be based on the extent and time of failure of rainfall instead of the loss of production.
vii) Funds be made available for supply of quality fodder seeds, fodder conservation facilities and for supply of fodder to small dairy farmers at reasonable rates to improve livestock productivity.
10. After the Consultation session, Members of the NCF assured the full consideration of the suggestions and written representations made by the State Government and participants. They also thanked the State Government for the courtesy shown.