Poll Delays Farm Compensation To Cotton Farmers

Unseasonal showers and elections have been the bane of the cotton-growing Vidarbha and onion-growing north Maharashtra. In sharp contrast, the Marathwada region-which also goes to the polls tomorrow-makes the best of its industrial and agricultural backwardness as caste conflicts overshadow other considerations.

Several Congress, BJP, Shiv Sena and Republican Party stalwarts will battle it out in the 24 (including all 11 from Vidarbha and four from north Maharashtra and nine from Marathwada) of the 48 seats in Sundays elections in the state.

The regions were, like the entire state, wrested from the Congress in the 1996 Lok Sabha elections.

Compensation remains very much the issue in north Maharashtra, where onion fields are spread right across the region. The round-the-season onion yield has fallen short by at least 250,000 tonnes compared to the 1996-97 levels. So much so that in the just-concluded kharif season, the land under onion cultivation came down from 11,000 ha. to 6,500 ha.

 

In Vidarbha, the life of 1.8 million-who produce cotton on 3.1 million ha. of land-farmers hinges on the compensation to be doled out by the Maharashtra government for loss of cotton crop following unseasonal rains in towards the latter quarter of 1997. Against the estimated production of 17 million tonnes of raw cotton (3.4 million bales), the actuals have touched barely 5 million tonnes of production.

The unseasonal showers have led to the estimated destruction (on the basis of the shortfall) of 2.4 million bales or 12 million tonnes of raw cotton. Politically, where the ruling Sena-BJP combine in Maharashtra could get hurt in the coming elections is that no compensation has been announced for the farmers for the immense loss to the cotton crops. Of course, the government is taking shelter under the Model code of conduct imposed by the Election Commission for not declaring a compensation package.

Though the Congress is whipping up passions on the lack of compensation from the state government to the onion growers, a senior official said: The onion prices have touched an all-time high from Rs 5 to Rs 20-24 per kg. in the retail market. That itself is a compensation.

The farmers, uses as they are to subsidies and hefty largesse, are expected to reply through their votes to being thrown suddenly to market economics.