Why is Khattar govt not procuring sunflower at MSP? ‘Crops smuggled in from neighbouring states’

Haryana CM says case of sunflower similar to that of millet, which state govt procured at MSP for 3 yrs while bajra was being smuggled in from Rajasthan, where it's abundantly available.

File image of Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar | Photo: PTI

Chandigarh: In the wake of farmers’ protests over the Haryana government not procuring sunflower crop at minimum support price (MSP), Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar transferred Rs 29.13 crore to the bank accounts of 8,528 sunflower farmers as “interim relief” under the Bhavantar Bharpai Yojana (BBY).

The state government had earlier this year announced the inclusion of sunflower crop under BBY, a scheme through which it pays a fixed compensation to farmers against produce sold below MSP.

At a press conference in Chandigarh Saturday, Khattar said that his government was paying Rs “1,000 per quintal as interim relief to sunflower farmers under BBY, and that the state would make sure that the farmers don’t suffer loss on their crop”.

So why is the Khattar government averse to procuring sunflower at MSP? Asked this question, the CM said, “As far as crops that the Centre procures are concerned, we don’t have a problem. But when it comes to crops which only Haryana procures on MSP, we face a problem, which is that crop from neighbouring states is smuggled into our state.”

Khattar expressed hope that the market price of sunflower will increase in the coming days and the farmers will get more than the MSP of Rs 6,400 with the inclusion of Rs 1,000 interim relief.

However, he was non-committal about what would happen if this scenario does not pan out: “In case that doesn’t happen, we can increase the compensation, though we will not like to announce it as of now.”

Krishan Kumar, president of the Kurukshetra unit of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Charuni), which is leading a farmers’ protest on the issue at Ladwa Road, told ThePrint this was “part of a larger conspiracy to finish the MSP”.

He added: “First, they stopped giving MSP on bajra and now it is sunflower. The next step will be paddy and wheat, because this government is against procurement of crops at MSP.”

The Union government had announced an MSP of Rs 6,400 per quintal for sunflower crop for 2022-23. Haryana’s farmers have, however, been agitating over the state’s decision to not procure sunflower at MSP, which they say has forced them “to sell their crop for Rs 4,000 to Rs 4,800 to private buyers”.

Last Tuesday, the agitating farmers had blocked the Chandigarh-Delhi highway at Shahabad in Kurukshetra district. The police had subsequently resorted to lathi-charge and arrested nine farmer leaders, including Gurnam Singh Charuni, president of the BKU (Charuni).

A day after the farmers’ protest, the Union government announced an increase in MSP on sunflower from Rs 6,400 to Rs 6,760 for the 2023-24 season.

A senior official from the Haryana food and supplies department had earlier told ThePrint that the state government “hadn’t announced that it would procure sunflower seeds on MSP for 2022-2023”.

He added that the central government announces MSP for 22-23 crops, including 14 kharif crops, for the entire country and it is up to the states to decide which crops they want to give the MSP on to farmers.

Also Read: Can India actually afford MSP for farmers? It’s a question of political will

‘Inter-state smuggling’

Elaborating on crop procurement, Khattar Saturday said that wheat and paddy are procured by Haryana at MSP on behalf of the central agency Food Corporation of India. “Since these crops are procured by the central agencies from neighbouring states too, the government doesn’t face any challenge of smuggling,” he added.

However, he pointed out, “when we procured millet (bajra) on MSP, it was found that the farmers of other states were also selling their millet crop in our mandis”.

“For three years, we procured millet on MSP — of Rs 1,950 per quintal in 2018-19, Rs 2,000 per quintal in 2019-20 and Rs 2,150 per quintal in 2020-21. However, the crop was selling for Rs 1,500 per quintal in neighbouring Rajasthan. Despite the government’s efforts, bajra was being smuggled here from Rajasthan, where it is grown in abundance,” said Khattar.

A similar situation has emerged in the case of sunflower, he explained.

“If we purchase the crop at MSP of Rs 6,400 per quintal, the crop from neighbouring Punjab is smuggled into Haryana because the price of sunflower fluctuates (around) Rs 4,000 in the market,” the CM added.

He asserted that this was the reason why the Haryana government had decided not to procure crops like sunflower and bajra on MSP and instead provide compensation to farmers under BBY.

“We simply transfer the difference between the market price and the MSP to farmers’ accounts and leave it up to them to sell their crop anywhere,” said Khattar.

‘Fake claims by farmers on portal’

At the press conference, the CM further explained that the Haryana government had started the ‘Meri Fasal Mera Byora’ portal and it was decided that only those farmers should get the benefit of MSP and BBY who upload their crop details on it.

But the government noted that fake details were being uploaded on the portal, he added. “Farmers had registered sunflower crop on 40,000 acres by the last date of registration for this kharif season (2022-23). On demand, the portal was reopened for three days. In these three days, farmers registered sunflower crop on another 17,000 acres,” he added.

“During verification, it was noticed that farmers who had grown wheat in the rabi season had shown that they had sown sunflower for the kharif season, which is not practically possible because wheat is harvested in April while sunflower has to be sown before 15 March. We have already rejected claims of sunflower on 9,000 acres because they were doubtful and verification is still in progress,” said Khattar.

Talking about smuggling, an official from the Haryana Agriculture Marketing Board told ThePrint that the state had procured 1.18 lakh metric tonne of bajra on MSP in 2018. However, the next year, 3.10 lakh metric tonne of bajra came to the market for procurement and this surged to 7.66 lakh metric tonne in 2020.

“If you compare the year-wise increase in production with the corresponding procurement figures, you will realise the jump is too improbable unless crop from outside is smuggled in,” said the official.

He added that interventions like police pickets on Haryana’s borders had failed to stop the smuggling.

(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)