Expediting paddy procurement in Assam

Over 96 lakh farmers across the country benefiting from the paddy procurement at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Kharif Marketing Season 2022–23 (Kharif crop) is good news. For Assam, the devil is in the details. Paddy procurement in the state has touched 2.53 lakh MT volumes but the number of farmers benefited is less than 29,000. Increasing the number of active Paddy Procurement Centres (PPCs) and registrations of certified sellers of paddy will be crucial to achieving the procurement target of 10 lakh MT. The state procured a record quantity of 5.65 lakh MT in 2021-22 against the target of 10 lakh MT. Assam being one of the top ten rice producing states there can be no room for any complacency in achieving higher quantity over the previous years. The procurement of paddy at MSP is critical for increasing the household income of the farmers. Improved purchasing capacity of rural households engaged in paddy cultivation will strengthen rural economy. This will facilitate farmers’ making higher investments in agriculture and related activities to boost production and productivity. The farmers who remain excluded from the paddy procurement process fail to get remunerative prices, and their investments in agriculture and related activities also decline. Such shrinkage in farm investment has led to a livelihood crisis in the farm sector and the outmigration of members of farm families from villages to cities and urban growth centres in search of livelihood and employment. The government giving wide publicity on MSP of paddy, which has been fixed at Rs 2040 per quintal for 2022-23 crop, can help farmers negotiate the price with traders but procurement centres located far away the farmers are unable to negotiate the price. Increasing the number of procurement centres in the state will facilitate more farmers registering to sell their paddies to central and state procurement agencies. The state currently has 197 active PPCs as compared to the 1800 purchase centres notified in Punjab. This also explains why Punjab has recorded the highest paddy procurement of 182 lakh MT—180 by state agencies and about 2 lakh MT by FCI for the current KMS. Assam paddy procurement dashboard data show that the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has procured less than 80,000 metric tonnes of paddy against the target of 4.04 million metric tonnes. The FCI has 60 active PPCs. The Assam Food and Civil Supplies Corporation has so far procured 1.46 lakh metric tonnes (MT) against the target of 4.18 lakh MT from 87 PPCs across the state. The total outflow of MSP to the tune of Rs. 1.45 lakh crore transferred directly to the farmers’ account against the total procurement of 702 lakh metric tonnes of kharif crop till Monday presents the large picture of paddy procurement and MSP benefits to farmers in the country. The Central Government estimates that for the Kharif crop of the current KMS 2022–23, a total quantity of 765.43 lakh MT paddy (514 lakh MT in terms of rice) is to be procured, as opposed to the 749 lakh MT paddy (503 lakh MT in terms of rice) procured during the last KMS 2021–22. With the inclusion of the Rabi crop, it is estimated that around 900 LMT of paddy may be procured during the entire KMS 2022–2023 across the country. Paddy procurement planners in Assam considering this larger picture while drawing procurement plans and setting targets can help set larger goals for harnessing the advantage the state has as a major rice producing state in the country. Farmers in Assam lose their standing crop in multiple waves of floods, while sand deposits on farmland during floods render farmland in many areas unsuitable for paddy cultivation. Erosion of farm land is another natural disaster adversely affecting the sustainability of farming. The MSP can act as a shock absorber for such farmers in distress and build resilience against recurring and ravaging annual floods and erosion. A higher quantity of paddy procurement spurs a chain of economic activities and creates alternative livelihood opportunities in the transport sector due to the requirement of carriage vans, trucks, the procurement and supply of gunny sacks, rice milling, and packaging. The generation of such economic avenues in rural Assam can stabilise the population in villages and reduce migration to Guwahati and other towns. A huge exodus of population from rural areas to cities due to livelihood crises arising from non-remunerative farming and a reduction of the absorption capacity of farm sectors also make cities unsustainable. Due to such an exodus, the farm sector also faces another crisis of labour shortages, which in turn leads to an increase in demand for higher wages, prompting farmers to adopt farm mechanisation to maximise production and for efficient post-harvest management. Adoption of mechanised farming results in the permanent loss of employment opportunities in the farm sector for those agricultural labourers who have migrated to cities. Doubling farmers’ income through procurement at MSP is one of the pragmatic solutions to augmenting the capacity of Assam’s farm sector for providing livelihood opportunities to rural youth.