Under pressure from the Centre, the BJP-JJP government in Haryana is close to clinching a consensus on making direct payment of foodgrain procurement remuneration to the farmers. The payment though will be routed electronically through the commission agents (arhtiyas).
There are about 40,000 commission agents in the state, but only about 18,000 are registered with the state government.
A formal announcement in this regard is expected anytime soon by chief minister ML Khattar and deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala, the minister in charge of the food, civil supplies and consumer affairs portfolio.
Additional chief secretary (ACS), food, civil supplies and consumer affairs, PK Das said the government will deposit the remuneration meant for farmers in the bank accounts of commission agents.
Since the commission agents act as informal money lenders for farmers, routing the remuneration will also help the former to do the accounting to recover his dues also. However, this “give and take” money lending business will purely be an in-house affair of the agents and the farmers, officials said.
The central government though wanted that the commission agents be removed from the loop and minimum support price (MSP) or state advised price payment for procurement of foodgrains be made directly to the growers. Union consumer affairs, food and public distribution ministry in a December 2019 communication said that in comparison to previous seasons, the Haryana government has made some progress regarding online registration of farmers.
{{/usCountry}}The central government though wanted that the commission agents be removed from the loop and minimum support price (MSP) or state advised price payment for procurement of foodgrains be made directly to the growers. Union consumer affairs, food and public distribution ministry in a December 2019 communication said that in comparison to previous seasons, the Haryana government has made some progress regarding online registration of farmers.
{{/usCountry}}“However, no initiative has been taken to make online payment to the farmers. The state has assured that it will implement direct online payment to farmers,’’ said the communication.
The state government had in October 2019 conveyed to the Centre its immediate inability to make direct online payments to farmers and sought exemption as over 2.6 lakh farmers who brought their paddy produce to mandis could not register themselves on a Meri Fasal Mera Byora portal.
However, elbowing out the commission agents may not be a prudent step at least immediately, officials said.
“The commission agents constitute a powerful lobby in the state and had threatened to launch a stir if they are overlooked. Even a large number of farmers don’t want to disrupt their relationship with the arhtiyas,’’ said an agriculture department official.
The ACS food, civil supplies and consumer affairs, also said the commission agents have a long-lasting relationship with farmers and both were reluctant to sever it. In the current scenario, this is the best way to safeguard the interest of the farmers, he said.
Officials said that doing away with the system of procurement of foodgrains through commission agents was unfeasible as the agricultural value chain will get disrupted.
“The government does not have the means to clean the grains arriving in mandis, packing it in gunny bales and dispatch it to the procurement agency or the buyer. This work is done by the commission agents,’’ said an official.
Das said the government plans to hand over the procurement cost (MSP or the state advised price for different agricultural crops procured by government agencies) as well the 2.5% commission to the agents in two tranches to keep the payment cycle transparent.
Haryana State Anaj Mandi Arhtiya Association president Ashok Gupta said the commission agents were in consonance with the proposal on direct payment to farmers.
“There has been lot of pressure from the central government. We have to find an amicable solution,’’ Gupta said.
Gupta said that they have a couple of suggestions and would like the government to look into them. “What we want is that money lent to farmers also gets reflected in the electronic records so that commission agents can do adjustments accordingly. Is there a way to bring more transparency and safeguard our interests also?’’ he said.