Co-ops sow hope in farmers

Left with an disappointingly small area of farmland he inherited after family partition, Kishan Singh Marawi of this tribal village near Kanha national park sensed no option but to join a farm cooperative. For, he knew that averting a government initiative floated for the benefit of people like him would leave him landless in a few years.

Marawi, thus, started a farm cooperative in this tribal-dominated district of southeastern Madhya Pradesh. Named ‘Indri Sahkari Swayatta Samiti’, it has ensured him cheap loan, sufficient fertiliser and access to mandi trade. Several farmers in Marawi’s neighbouring villages, too, have formed farm cooperatives — they total more than 400 now. The recent movement has given the farmers the strength to fight against adversities of markets and poor economic conditions.

It has helped them in a big way, given that an increase in the number of small and marginal farmers in their tribal-dominated Mandla district would have otherwise made farming a profit-less business for them. “Our soil retains moisture; so it doesn’t suit the cultivation of high-yield crops like soya. Also, our Rabi crop is mostly damaged by wild animals that sneak into the fields from the nearby park,” Marawi says. “Of late, we formed a cooperative for producing breeder seed. It should give us more returns.”

The state government’s new strategy is three-pronged — and aims at providing marginal farmers market linkage for input and output, finance linkage and knowledge linkage for latest farm techniques.

“The idea is to bring the farmers on a common platform, from where they can use various resources,” says Jabalpur divisional commissioner Ravindra Pastore, who has spent a larger portion of his career in poverty alleviation programmes. “We have granted various licenses to farm cooperatives to reduce input cost.”

Under the scheme, farm cooperatives can buy and sell fertilisers, seeds or other inputs. Further, by using market linkage they will be able to sell their yield at a “much better” price to any private player or food-processing firms. They will also have access to banking in spite their small land holding in form of cooperative, the official informs. “The knowledge linkage familiarises them with latest farm techniques and access to a new scientific way of farming to have better yield,” he adds.

As of now, 750-odd cooperatives have been formed in Jabalpur division. Yet, bankers turn them down for credit due to a sloppy law. The Madhya Pradesh Cooperative Act, 1960, does not permit state-owned cooperative banks to grant them loans for farm activities at 1 per cent interest rate. They have no option but to go for costly public-sector bank loans. The newly created farmers’ cooperatives fall under the Cooperative Act, 1999.

Pastore notes that the state cabinet has already cleared a proposal to make amendments in this legislation. “It is likely to be amended in any of the next sessions of state assembly,” he adds. On the other hand, farmers say they do not have much advantage of cooperatives. For, mandi officials hold their payments against foodgrain sale, while bankers deny them Kisan credit cards.

Pastore has a different logic. “If we do not take timely action, the farmers will lose their lands to either real estate players or tour operators -- and will soon become landless. It will take some time for the government to render proper services. We are motivating them.” As of now, farmers in the villages of Mandla district are into breeder or foundation seed cultivation with support from Jawaharlal Nehru Agriculture University.

The seed shortage is statewide an issue. And farmers cry for government support in a proper way. “What is good in a cooperative, if a clerk denies lifting our grain and forces us to put our grain in the open? Worse, they turn us down for immediate payments,” says Shiv Narayan Singor of a nearby village Jaharmau. “I have damaged my entire yield in unseasonal rains. There is none to listen to me.”