UP farmers rue lack of state support as erratic weather, COVID lockdown wreak the sector

“There is no solution to the problems of farmers, and those who have the solutions do not want to implement them,” Narendra Singh Rana, a resident of Baghpat, in Uttar Pradesh, told me on 1 May. That day, the central government announced the second extension of the nationwide lockdown to combat the novel coronavirus pandemic. Rana, a farmer, is the head of the Kisan Adhikar Andolan, an organisation that works on farmers’ rights, and has led movements in the region for a long time. “We felt the brunt of unseasonal weather the most this time,” Rana said. “And now, because of the lockdown we cannot find buyers.”

Rana grows wheat, which is usually sown in between October and December, and harvested between February and May. He explained that the erratic weather had set the farmers back long before the pandemic hit India. “Sowing of wheat was less, and it was late due to the unseasonal rains. When it was the time to harvest, it rained again, there were hailstorms even, and the whole crop turned black.” He added, “And in this lock-down, in the initial weeks, all work was shut. The harvest got delayed further due to this and it’s the farmer who has suffered the most in all this.” In a tone of abject resignation he told me, “It seems like God is angry with us farmers.”

A popular saying among the farming community of the state captures their plight. “Kisan apne liye paida nahin karta aur apna paida kiya kabhi nasht nahin karta”—The farmer does not produce for himself and never destroys his produce. However, the ongoing lockdown coupled with the vagrant weather, has compelled the farming community to belie this conventional wisdom. The season that coincided with the lockdown is critical to the farming community— not just the wheat crop, but several seasonal vegetables flourish during these months. The unseasonal rains and lack of labour, accessible markets and supply-chain logistics has laid this season’s produce to waste. In addition, the commerce in fruits, flowers, fish and poultry has also been completely destroyed.

All the farmers I spoke to across several districts of the state said that government purchasing centres, which buy the harvest from farmers at weighted prices fixed by the administration, were still not functional. In addition, there seemed to be no policy or institutional support for the sector. As the country grapples with the third phase of the lockdown, the farming community has now started destroying their produce. Devendra Sharma, an expert on agricultural practices and policies, was extremely critical of the state government’s response to the farmers’ crisis. “You can say the entire agricultural sector has been wiped out,” he told me. “But no one is talking about this. The prominence that should have been given to farmers’ issues is just not there.”

Rana was unhappy with the Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state and complained that “this government increased the price of electricity some time ago but our income did not increase. The sugar mills have not made payments on time and now they are delaying the parchis”—slips issued by the mills that record the weight of the sugarcane, based on which payments are released to individual farmers.  

Harveer Singh is a farmer from Niloha, a village in the Meerut district. Harveer was an active member of a farmers’ movement of 1987, which lasted 44 days and was centred on the demand for electricity at affordable prices. The movement was organised and led by Mahendra Singh Tikait, a legendary farmers’ leader from western Uttar Pradesh. Harveer, who was a close associate of Tikait, had spent three months in prison back then. Since their area “was a hotspot, we had a big problem in harvesting the wheat,” he told me. “Somehow we managed to harvest it, but now we cannot find any buyers. Someone quotes Rs 1,700 per quintal and some quote Rs 1,725, while the government price is Rs 1,925. The farmers are all scared since we are a hotspot and no one is carting wheat to the Mavana Mandi.” The Mavana Mandi is a government purchasing-centre. “Since so much of the wheat blackened due to the rains, so no one will buy it either. In addition, now you have register on the mobile to sell your produce. How many farmers can do that? This is hurting the farmers.”

Tejindra Deshwal, from Keserwa Kala, a village in Shamli district, said that while there was a “government purchasing center” in Shamli town, all the farmers from his village would frequent the Karnal Mandi, in Karnal town of the neighbouring state of Haryana. “But this time, because of the lockdown, all transport is shut and we could not go there. And on top of it, the centre at Shamli has not started the weighting of produce so it’s no use going there.” He told me that he grows wheat on ten bighas of land and he was in the middle of the harvest when it rained. “So, this time I have less wheat and I do not know if anyone will even buy that soaked wheat.”

Kulwinder Singh, a resident of Kuraiya Kala village in the Pilibhit district, told me he used to sell his wheat harvest at the Bisalpur Mandi, in Pilibhit town, and that he went there this time too. “The government price is Rs 1,925. But I had to pay Rs 70 per quintal as cartage,” Kulwinder said. In the previous harvest seasons, the cartage rate used to be Rs 20 per quintal. “You tell me, if a farmer has to pay this, all he has left is Rs 1,855. Even that money will come in your account and it takes some time,” said he added. He told me that he has been a worker of the Bharatiya Janata Party for the last 18 years. “If I have to pay this, imagine what the plight of the common farmer is?”

Nahar Singh, a resident of Sedpar village, in Baghpat, told me that “there is no official weighing here. The private buyer is offering Rs 1,750 per quintal. Our condition is getting worse by the day.” He added, “In this lockdown, the maximum damage has been to farmers and labourers. Our condition will not improve for many years now.”

Purn Singh, from Naseerpur village in the Muzaffarnagar district, is the president of the Bharatiya Kisan Mazdoor Sanghathan, another regional organisation that works on farmers’ issues. He told me that even in Muzaffarnagar, government centres had not started the weighing of produce. “So much of the wheat was destroyed because of the rains, and it delayed the harvest which is still going on. The rain blackened my harvest and I won’t find buyers even in the government centre. First the lockdown and then the weather, both have become our biggest enemies. Everyone can protect his possessions. But the farmer cannot do anything.”

Sharma, the agricultural-practices expert, told me, “There is talk of bringing back the policies which destroyed agriculture. And they are also talking of implementing these policies by force if need be.” He continued, “Everyone knows the kind of land reforms that they want to do—they say land should be given to the corporates. At this time, do these corporates have the capacity to survive?” He said that the sector accrued the maximum damage during the first phase of the lockdown.

“I believe almost fifty percent of the farmers had to throw away their produce or feed it to the animals,” Sharma said. “I do not think farmers could have recovered even 25 percent of their costs. And 50 to 70 percent of the farmers would not have got anything. And this is wheat, of which we are the second largest producer in the world. So you can imagine the quantum of the loss in fruits and vegetables.” He added, “The government has taken the farming sector and farmers for granted.”