Problem of apple farmers in Himachal Pradesh

Apple growers in Himachal Pradesh are on the streets almost three decades after their last major agitation. The protests are not surprising; His anger has been boiling for some time.

To understand the present crisis, it is important to understand the developments of the last few decades. In the 1970s and 1980s, the state provided much support for apple production in Himachal Pradesh: it established nurseries and plants on a large scale to farmers, offered transportation subsidies on cans, heavily subsidized tools, and Among other initiatives offered, special financial assistance to the poor and downtrodden for planting apple orchards. Land reforms were widely implemented since the inception of the state; Hardly anyone was left landless. Even before the statehood was granted, the distribution of land was done through Nau Tors (Breaking New Lands). Any tilled land was eventually transferred through successive land settlements to those cultivating them. Laws in the state prohibit the transfer of land in favor of a person who is not an agriculturist from Himachal Pradesh. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, farmer movements were successful in raising support prices for apples. However, in the 1990s, with increasing fragmentation of land, low productivity and withdrawal of state support, agriculture became unstable. The cost of production of agricultural commodities increased substantially, depriving the poor and marginal producers of remunerative prices.

because of the crisis

There are two main reasons for the current crisis. The first is the rising cost of production. By some estimates, the cost of fertilizers, pesticides and fungicides has increased by 300% over the past decade. The cost of apple cartons and trays and packaging has also seen a dramatic increase. For example, the cost of a carton has gone up from around ₹30 to ₹130 in the last decade. The cost of bringing the produce to market has also increased.

The second and immediate trigger for the movement was the increase in the Goods and Services Tax on cartons from 12% to 18%. This was done to ensure that farmers were forced to sell their produce to big buyers instead of selling it in the open market. Just as the three agricultural laws were created on the pretext of getting rid of middlemen, the logic here was that commission agents who rob apple growers would be forced out of the picture. But this leaves apple growers at the mercy of the big giants in the procurement, who have priority till fixing the purchase price.

Big players do not buy apples in boxes; They buy them in plastic trays and fix the rate on a kilogram basis. Doing so, he argues, lowers the cost of packaging. It is true that it fixes the price on the basis of the carton of apples in the open market. Thus, big players motivate apple farmers to sell the produce. But there is a catch. Unlike the open market, where apples of all varieties/grades are procured, the big players buy only high quality apples. Such apples do not even make up 20%-30% of the total production in a crop. So, what happens to the rest of the apples? there is no answer.

As soon as the big players announce their buying rates, they bring down the market and bring down the purchase prices across the entire market even though they do not buy even 5%-7% of the total yield. Unlike Jammu and Kashmir, where there is a minimum rate for purchases, there is no such law in Himachal. The government is also not ready to bring such a law. Farmers are demanding that to improve their condition, legally guaranteed procurement at Minimum Support Price (C2+50%) should be ensured.

regulatory requirement

The government seems to be acting under pressure from big buyers. It doesn’t seem to have the ability to tame the market or decide what should be the minimum purchase price for different grades of apples. There is a need for an independent body which is duly supported and trusted by the farmers. Such a body should have representatives of apple growers, market players, commission agents and the government. It should be a statutory body which is also given the task of conducting research in apple economy. If this is not done, the economy of more than ₹ 5,500 crore will be badly affected. Large growers or rich farmers will be able to ease the pressure, but small and marginal apple growers will be deeply impacted and will be pushed out of this ecosystem. Large producers have also begun to shift from conventional varieties to more genetically modified varieties called spurs, most of which are imported from European countries. How this change will unfold remains to be seen.

Tikendra Singh Panwar is a former directly elected Deputy Mayor of Shimla and an urban businessman. He was also the President of Himachal Kisan Sabha.