Soya farmers face tough time

Nizamabad: Farmers who are sowing soya bean crops are having harrowing time in the district as the government purchasing centres at several places in the district are in a state of disarray, leaving the farmers in an utter state of confusion.

They are unable to sell their produce and clear their debts. Even if they sell, they are not getting minimum support price.

It is alleged that there is an unholy nexus between traders and government officials who keep violating the guidelines with impunity, giving priority to their own interests while the farmers are getting a raw deal. As a result, farmers are highly frustrated lot.

They are also incurring losses due to the defective weighing machines. As usual, the traders purchased the soya beans and seeds which the farmers brought to the market yard at the mandal headquarters for selling them. The purchases were made at different prices ranging anywhere between Rs 1600 and Rs 2800 per quintal from the farmers.

These purchasing centers were set up by the government to prevent the exploitation of farmers by the traders and political leaders who were purchasing them at low rates. They brought this matter to the notice of the local MLA who took it up with the government and persuaded them to set up purchasing centres.

The State government, in turn, established A Grade soya purchasing centres where the crop was sold at Rs 2775 per quintal and at B Grade centres, the price was fixed at Rs 2400 per quintal.

However, the traders stopped purchasing the produce at the market purchasing centres as they were orally instructed not to do so. As a result, they started making purchases outside the market and this has hurt the interests of the soya bean growers as they were asked to sell only at the purchasing centres.

With the traders making purchases outside, farmers stopped selling their produce at purchasing centres. Speaking to The Hans India here on Wednesday, farmers said that if permission was given only to sell high quality soya seeds at the purchasing centres, they would not be in a position to make any profits.

Permission should be given to the traders to purchase different varieties of crops irrespective of the quality, they added. The middlemen were cheating the farmers depriving them minimum support price, they lamented.

Presently, there were only A Grade and B Grade purchasing centres and for seeds below B grade quality, there were no purchasing centres. Farmers were demanding the setting up C grade centres too so that they could sell more quantities.

Farmers were also shocked that that they were unable to find purchasers at the market centres for the soya seeds that got drenched in the heavy rains in the district.

The farmers said that they also had to pay the transport charges and also for the extra workers who bring 30 to 40 quintals of soya seeds to the market and they could hardly make any profits on the deal.

They said that they were not receiving money immediately for the stocks that they sold and were made to wait for two or three days for receiving money. Thus, farmers who need money urgently were made to wait for a long time.

Even the traders are reluctant to make purchases at the purchasing centres as they were not in a position to sell them to companies at a higher price and make profits.

The farmers expressed the hope that the government would take corrective measures and come to their rescue.