All That They Want

None of the farm schemes—whether Union or state government—alleviates the problems of farmers

- Shahina K K, Tarique Anwar, Shweta Desai and Md Asghar Khan

FARMERS across the country do not face the same set of problems and are not looking for the same set of solutions. Farmers in south India do not have a significant stake in the rice and wheat market, so the question of legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP) does not have an impact on them. While farmers in Bihar and Jharkhand are hit by poor systems and extreme weather events, Maharashtra’s farmers have distanced themselves from the protest at Punjab-Haryana border, as they do not subscribe to the idea of legal guarantee for MSP. They believe legal guarantee does not work in the absence of a corresponding Act.

So why is south India not enthusiastic about the farmers’ protest?

On November 11, 2023, K.G. Prasad, a paddy farmer from Kuttanad, Alappuzha—Kerala’s ‘rice bowl’—died by suicide. In his note, he blamed the government and banks for his plight. Denied a loan due to an unpaid Paddy Receipt Sheet (PRS) loan—meant to be repaid by the government—Prasad’s case brought attention to the widespread issue of delayed government payments, which adversely affect farmers’ credit scores. The PRS system, intended to enable farmers to secure loans against paddy sales, often fails due to government delays, pushing farmers into financial crisis.

Regional Challenges and Divergences

While northern farmers protest the draft National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing, southern states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu grapple with distinct challenges. Without mandis, the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act does not apply, and these states rely on government-operated Civil Supplies Corporations, cooperatives, and collectives for crop procurement. This system helps to reduce exploitation by middlemen.