Problem of plenty

The Karnataka government’s raising of cap on the procurement of maize from farmers from 20 quintals to 50 quintals is a step in the right direction. Record maize harvest in Karnataka this year has led to a plunge in prices leading to despair among  farmers who were urging the Government to enhance the quantum of procurement. Good rains have led to a bumper yield which may gross up to 55 lakh metric tonnes this year. Farmers have held protests in several cities of north Karnataka where the State Assembly is holding its two-week annual winter session.

The state govt has also raised the MSP (minimum support price) Rs. 2,400 from Rs. 1,550—Rs. 1,800 per quintal as a measure to mitigate the losses to the farmers. This imparts a parity to the state MSP with one offered by the Centre. The problem procurement has been aggravated by central agencies such as NAFED and National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India Ltd (NCCF) which have been slow in procurement and have also delayed the same this year.

Besides this, the Central govt has been importing maize from countries such as Ukraine and Myanmar thereby depressing the local market prices further. The Karnataka government has askedpoultries in the state to procure maize --a major feed for  poultry farms--locally. It has also directed  distilleries to procure maize for ethanol production in order to hike the demand. But the distilleries complain that the low allocation for ethanol production breeds unwillingness for procurement of maize.