Little trade in MP mandis in October after passing of farm laws, traders say

Backers of the Mandi system fear that farmers might not get adequate amount of money against sale of produce outside the mandis and their payment is likely to be delayed.

Ganeshram Sahu, a farmer from Pipara village in his early 40s, sold toor daal (a pulse) in an auction at Rs 4,782 per quintal at Krishi Upaj Mandi, Karond, Bhopal against the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 6,000 per quintal on Saturday. Similarly, another farmer Suresh from Shekhpura under Parwalia tehsil, sold his gram produce for Rs 4053 per quintal under auction against the MSP of Rs 5100 at the mandi the same day.

In Mandis, the traders are bound to make payment to the farmers within 24 hours, failing which they have to pay interest.(HT Photo?Representational)

However, both the farmers had no qualms in accepting the price as the produce was not of fair average quality (FAQ) and they sounded satisfied with the entire auction process as they were supposed to get the payment against the sale within 24 hours.

For Ganeshram and Suresh or for that matter Hameer Singh Dangi, another farmer from Bhopal, the farmers’ agitation in Delhi against the central government’s three farm laws has hardly made any difference in their routine life and sale of their produce as of now.

But there are doubts if the situation will remain the same in the time to come as is reflected in the low tax collection through Krishi Upaj Mandi tax and farmers numbers dwindling and also a good number of Mandi employees waiting for their salaries for the past more than two months due to low tax collection. The farm laws have made the traders jittery as the business is going down.

Karond Krishi Upaj Mandi Traders Association president Harish Gyanchandani said, “The farm laws are nothing but the death knell for the mandis across the state. The reason being, a trader has to pay Mandi tax at 1.70% which was reduced to 0.50% for three months by the state government after their agitation in October, whereas traders dealing with farmers outside the mandis are not required to pay any tax. In this situation, why should a trader come to the mandi to buy agriculture produce? Instead, he will pass some of the amount, saved by not paying the tax, to the farmers to encourage the latter to sell their agriculture produce outside the Mandis.”

Also, he added, the traders outside the mandis are not bound by any rules and regulation unlike the traders registered with the Mandis. Hence, farmers might not get adequate amount of money against sale of produce outside the mandi and also the payment is likely to be delayed.

Agriculture Mandi Board Employees and Officers Association state president Angira Pandey said, “After the farms laws were enacted, at least 11 Mandis in the state, out of the total 259, registered zero transaction in the month of October and more than 36 mandis had their transactions reduced by more than 90%. Since the tax collection is low, only about 1500 of around 9000 employees engaged with the mandis have been able to get salaries in the past two months or so.”

As per a document, the most affected mandis are at Sagar, Panna, Tiakamgarh, Rewa, Satna, Sahdol, Anuppur, Sidhi, Singrauli, Dindori, Chhindwara, Jabalpur, Shivpuri, Sheopur, Bhind, Guna, Mandsaur, Agar-Malwa, Shajapur, Dewas, Neemuch etc..

In October, farmers in Madhya Pradesh harvest paddy and soyabean and sell through local mandis and other traders

Dwivedi said, “In Mandis the traders are bound to make payment to the farmers within 24 hours. If a trader fails to pay the amount within 24 hours he has to pay additional amount at 1% interest rate within 48 hours and the this interest rate goes up to 5% on failure of payment on subsequent days. Also, till he clears the payment he is not entitled to take part in the auction. As there are transactions outsides there are hardly such restrictions on the traders.”

Away from the Mandi, Jitendra Thakur, a farmer who is a resident of Arwalia village and has about 8 acre of land in his family in Bhopal, speaks why farmers’ agitation in Delhi has not affected the farmers in Madhya Pradesh much.

“Unlike Madhya Pradesh the Mandi system in Punjab and Haryana is very strong and there is interdependence between farmers and traders. For instance, if a farmer needs a good amount of money for medical treatment, marriages or any other occasion, he gets it from the traders at the mandis. Also, the farmers there don’t have to cover long distances to reach the mandis. That’s why they fear that the new laws will lead to closure of the mandis.”

Thakur added, “If our interests like MSP etc are protected in the laws, we would like to save a good amount of money otherwise spent on transportation to mandis for the auction,” he said.

Another farmer of the village, Lalaram said, farmers were ready to back the new laws if they turn out to be in their favour.

“If transparency is there in the laws and our interest is protected we would welcome it. If there are people who can buy our produce at the time of sowing, then it will give guarantee for our income. But until there are provisions in the law, our interest can’t be protected.”

However, a farmer from Dalouda in Mandsaur Jitendra Patidar said, “There are many discrepancies in the new laws. For instance, in Mandis there are checks at several points so that the farmers get payment from traders and the latter are able to do business only after getting licences, whereas, once the traders start buying produce outside the mandis, there is no such scrutiny and licence required for a trader to buy the produce.”

Bharatiya Kisan Union state president Anil Yadav said that the farm laws will only benefit the corporate houses. “If the central government really wanted to protect the interest of the farmers why did it not include the provision of MSP in the laws and why the farmers are debarred from approaching the courts in case of any buyer backing out from the contract?,” he asked.

Minister for farmers’ welfare and agriculture Kamal Patel said, the state government is committed to safeguarding the interest of farmers.

“We have made it clear that Mandis and MSP both will continue to exist. Hence, there is no reason for the farmers or Mandi traders to be worried. The farm laws aim at ensuring enhancing the income of the farmers,” said Patel.