The condition of the state exchequers has come in the way of realising the Bengal government's paddy procurement target for 2023-24 fiscal and the ruling establishment is worried about its likely impact on the Trinamul Congress's poll prospects.
As a part of its plan to reach out to a large number of farmers before the Lok Sabha polls by offering them minimum support price (MSP) for their produce in the Kharif (monsoon) season, the government had planned to buy 65 lakh tons of paddy after the harvest, which generally ends in February.
The state's annual paddy procurement target is 70 lakh tons.
According to the latest report, the state could buy only 39.09 lakh tons of paddy, about 60 per cent of its target in the Kharif season.
As the procurement for the Khraif crops began in November last year and continued till February-end this year, the number couldn't be shored up any further.
“The government could not achieve its target because the farmers did not show enough interest in selling their produce to the government as the administration could not make the deal attractive by announcing a handsome bonus over and above the rate announced by the Centre,” said a senior state government.
This year, the Centre had announced an MSP of Rs 2,183 per quintal of paddy. The Bengal government announced a bonus of Rs 20 a quintal over and above the central rate, taking the figure to Rs 2,203.
As the price of paddy hovered between Rs 2,100 and Rs 2,050 in the open market over the past few months, the rate offered by the state government did not excite the farmers, said an official.
"Farmers need to make a lot of efforts to sell their produce to the government.... They have to first register their names on the portal, then take their produce to the procurement centres which are at times 30-50km away. Instead of taking all these hassles, a lot of farmers prefer selling their produce to the local traders," he explained.
“A lot of farmers preferred to earn Rs 100-150 less per quintal, but they did not want to take the pain of going through so many processes to sell their paddy to the government,” said a source.
The farmers who number around 75 lakh, sources said, would have thought differently had the state government announced a handsome bonus over and above the Centre’s rates.
“In such a situation, major rice-producing states usually announce a handsome bonus from the state coffers to sweeten the deal for the farmers. This year, Chhattisgarh provided a bonus of Rs 917 for a quintal of paddy. Even a small state like Jharkhand offered a bonus of Rs 117 for a quintal. But the cash-strapped Bengal government could not offer such a handsome bonus and failed to achieve its target in the Kharif season,” said a bureaucrat.
Many in the administration said as the majority of the farmers could not be reached with the benefit of the MSP, Trinamul may face a negative political fallout.
Offering a good MSP for the produce of the farmers generally helps political parties gain an advantage in the polls.
In Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the BJP swept the Assembly polls as it had promised that it would provide a much better MSP for paddy and wheat. Even the Trinamul-led state government had earned the trust of nearly 15 lakh potato farmers ahead of the 2021 Assembly polls after it bought potatoes from the farmers directly when they were in trouble because of surplus production.
“The result was evident when Trinamul swept major potato-producing districts like Hooghly and East Burdwan where they had put up a poor show in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. So, the procurement of paddy holds immense importance in Bengal,” said an official.
