India
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Wednesday sought personal intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide a bonus of Rs 100 per quintal over and above the MSP of wheat to compensate farmers who have lost their crop to untimely rain and hailstorm.
Updated : Apr 01, 2015, 11:33 PM IST
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Wednesday sought personal intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide a bonus of Rs 100 per quintal over and above the MSP of wheat to compensate farmers who have lost their crop to untimely rain and hailstorm.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Badal apprised him that Punjab had been contributing about 30-35 per cent of wheat procured for the central pool for buffer stock operations. However, the MSP for wheat has been fixed as Rs 1,450 per quintal for the marketing session 2015-16 whereas the farmers were paid Rs 1,400 per quintal during last year, he said, as per an official release.
"Practically, this marginal increase in MSP does not even cover the increase in the cost of inputs fertilizers, diesel, labour during the last one year," he said. Based on the use of inputs, the state government had suggested a minimum price of Rs 1,900 per quintal for wheat, he said.
The chief minister further brought to the notice of prime minister that the untimely rain and hailstorm in the state during February and March have caused heavy damage to the Rabi crops in about 3.48 lakh hectares in the state.
Towards the end of February and in March, Rabi crops are at the maturing and flowering stage and these need less irrigation, he said, adding, wheat is the major Rabi crop in the state and occupies an area of about 35 lakh hectares.
Badal further pointed out that heavy rain and hailstorm during this period have resulted in lodging of the wheat crop. The farmers had to incur extra expenditure to drain out the excessive water accumulated in their fields to save their crop, he said.
Moreover, the hailstorms accompanied by high velocity winds have resulted in flattening of the crop which will lead to reduction in yield as well as more harvesting cost, he said.
The high input cost, extra expenditure on draining out excessive water from the fields and loss of the maturing crop has put hardworking farmers of the state under tremendous stress, he said.
The chief minister added the loss would be known after revenue inspectors have conducted special 'girdawri' i.e. harvest inspection, and accordingly, the farmers will be provided the relief.
However, there is a substantial resentment amongst the farmers for the likely loss in their income due to reduction in productivity of wheat crop, which was otherwise expected to be a bumper one, he said.
In the absence of a suitable crop insurance product, there was no instrument available to compensate the farmers for the loss in productivity which is estimated to be 5-7 per cent, he said.
Summing up, the chief minister urged the Centre to provide a bonus of Rs 100 per quintal over and above the MSP of wheat to compensate the farmers who are already in distress due to reduction in yield and also likely deterioration of quality of produce because of unseasonal rainfall.
"It needed no emphasis that a remunerative price was a must to encourage the farmers to invest in agriculture and also to ensure the National Food Security," added Badal.
Urging the Centre, he also pleaded that the affected farmers would not be able to repay their loans in time and interest subvention for the timely repayments should be allowed to the distressed farmers for the current Rabi season.
Welcoming the announcement made by the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley that the relief amount for the natural calamities would be suitably enhance, Badal requested that it should be increased to at least Rs 10,000 per acre to adequately compensate the beleaguered farmers.
It may be recalled that the state government had already submitted a comprehensive proposal to the Centre for providing a special package of Rs 717 crore to give financial assistance to the farmers who have suffered a loss in crop productivity due to these weather abrasions in an cultivable area over 3.48 lakh hectares.