Baliapal: Jute farmers at Baliapal block in Balasore district are a worried lot as they are facing distress sale in the absence of a procurement facility by the government, a report said.
Traders have been cashing in on the situation. In the absence of remunerative prices, farmers are forced to sell their produce at throwaway prices to traders from outside the state.
Farmers have been cultivating jute along the river Subarnareksha. The geo-climatic condition of the area has been suitable for this cultivation. In the 1970s, the jute cultivation was booming, but gradually it declined for lack of procurement facilities. At that time, the government was providing seeds, fertilizers and pesticides at subsidised rate. Besides, the central government had set up a jute procurement centre while farmers used to earn decent incomes.
About 10 years ago, the jute procurement centre was shifted somewhere else. Despite this, many farmers have not given up jute farming.
In the current year, due to suitable weather, the harvest was good. But there are no takers for the produce from the area.
Traders from West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh are buying jute from farmers at throwaway price while the government has no control over the traders.
As there is no government procurement centre, farmers face exploitation at the hands of middlemen. Farmers have expressed their resentment over the government’s failure to protect their interests.
“Under such circumstances, we have to incur loss,” some farmers lamented.
A farmer, said, “I had cultivated jute over acres. We spend a lot towards manure. This year we are worried over the failure to sell the produce.” He said if the government does nothing, the farmers will suffer heavy losses.
“If we sell the produce at this price, we can’t even recover the amount we spent on the cultivation,” he added.
Farmers noted that as the government does not procure jute like paddy, farmers have no way but to sell the produce to middlemen.
