SAMBALPUR: Farmers in Orissa are dropping out of the government-sponsored minimum support price (MSP) programme for paddy, in large numbers, for a variety of reasons – but the governmental versions on this do not necessarily provide a correct
picture.
A massive 2.23 lakh farmers, out of a total 8.06 lakh who took part in the minimum support price (MSP) scheme for paddy in the 2015-16 kharif marketing season (KMS) in the state, stayed away from the programme during 2016-17 KMS.
Data available with the government reveals that while 3.94 lakh fresh farmers joined the MSP scheme in 2016-17 KMS, taking the total number of farmers availing MSP benefits in the state to 9.76 lakh, a whopping 2.23 lakh of the existing farmers, who had enrolled for MSP procurement in 2015-16 KMS, dropped out of the scheme during the following KMS.
Unremunerative prices, inordinate delay in payments, short procurement time, cumbersome guidelines and documentation problems are the main reasons for the large-scale disinterest shown by farmers in the much-vaunted MSP scheme. A bulk of the farmers enrolling for MSP are from the irrigated areas in western Orissa such as Bargarh and Sambalpur. Farmer dropout percentage could be more from these areas, sources said. 
The state government took credit for procuring a record quantity of paddy (54.15 lakhs MT) in the 2016-17 Kharif Marketing Season. It said the approximately `8,000crore MSP programme benefitted an additional 3.94 lakh farmers last year. However, what the government did not highlight was that 28 per cent of the existing farmers did not register for the MSP programme the next year.
Put in a perspective, this figure is worrisome. There are over 55 lakh farmer families (including sharecroppers) in the state, of which 9.76 lakh participated in the procurement programme. This worked out to less than 20 per cent of the farmers.
At present, only 18 per cent of the farmers participate in the MSP scheme, which is less than one-fifth of the eligible farmers. A sizeable number of farmers are also forced to go for distress sale of paddy as the documentation process for procurement is daunting.
Farmers register themselves online before they could take paddy to procurement centres to sell their produce at MSP. A farmer is given a token, and on production of this, he’s allowed to sell a stipulated quantity of paddy at the mandi.
“The state government is making a big hue and cry for raising the paddy MSP over which it, in fact, has no control. “In the current scenario, the Centre is very unlikely to raise the paddy MSP. The state government, instead, must try and involve more farmers under the MSP programme, which is under its control,” said Sarala Kumar Dash, a former Nabard officer and an agriculture expert.
Sisir Mishra, OP
