MP farmers' stir: CM Chouhan's achievements have come back to haunt him

The problem lies in the absence of strong storage due to which bumper harvest is sold at cheap rates

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's stellar achievements in the field of agriculture seem to have come back to haunt him.

The same farmers whom the state feted for their achievements, including five back-to-back Krishi Karmaan awards and many other accolades, are now questioning the state's policies and their actual impact on the ground.

There is no doubt that the state has managed to raise production of cereals, but more than that, the rise in output of horticulture, livestock and other activities have become a problematic area.

Vegetable production in the state has risen from 3.6 million metric tonnes in 2010-11 to 14.2 million tonnes in 2013-14, making the state the fourth-largest vegetable producer in the country. 

Overall, horticulture production in the state has jumped by a massive 69 per cent between 2006-07 to 2014-15.

The area under horticulture crops in Madhya Pradesh (MP) has risen from 2 per cent of the gross cropped area in 2005-06 to over 6 per cent in 2014-15. 

A study by Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) showed that almost 43 non-peak of the total area under horticulture crops in the state is devoted to vegetables alone.

This means from a marginal player in the country's horticulture scenario, MP is now a key producer in horticulture crops.

However, the problem lies in the absence of strong storage and processing facilities as a lot of this bumper harvest is being sold at dirt cheap rates. 

So far, the big focus of the administration seems to be on numbers, particularly those of production. Otherwise, what explains a farmer's unrest demanding a better price for fruits and vegetables in the middle of peak summer season when supplies usually dwindle.

Prices should have been rising

The extent of the problem is such that state government has been forced to buy onion and pulses from farmers long after the peak harvest season ended. The scenario is the same with milk.

The images of farmers dumping gallons of litres of milk on the streets or vandalising milk processing units is a fallout of consecutive years of bumper harvest without commensurate returns.

MP's milk production has risen from 6.4 million metric tonnes (MMT) in 2006-07 to 10.8 MMT in 2014-15. The ICRIER study showed a rise of over 69 per cent. 

Milk prices have crashed in summers which incidentally is a non-peak season for the commodities product. The flush season for milk ends around March and most of the demand is met from stored powered milk.

In the main cities of Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior and Jabalpur; prices of vegetables have fallen when they should have been rising. 

The unrest is also because of the fact that farmers suffered losses in cotton and soybean. Since a little over a year, they have been expecting to recover some losses during the summer season by selling vegetables. When this failed, it created a rising demand for loan waiver along the lines of farmers agitation in Uttar Pradesh.

Surprisingly, the entire farmers' agitation in MP is being led and fanned by big rich farmers from the most fertile Malwa-Nimar belt. The belt is considered most fertile for a variety of crops and is a hub for soybean.

If farmers in Madhya Pradesh can feel the pinch of low prices, the condition of those in the tribal belt is worse.

Some experts said that when farmers of a state, which is being considered as a role model for agriculture, are demanding loan waivers  and relief packages, then something is seriously wrong with the state's approach to agriculture.