Ensure good prices to the growers
Wednesday, 21 November 2007
FOLLOWING every foodgrain harvest, the government buys at a good price the surplus grains from the farmers. The official price is declared also for the main cash crop, jute. The government opens buying centres all over the country to buy jute at a remunerative price. The intention, on paper, is to save the farmers from the middlemen's clutches and to buy the produce at prices that can act as incentives to produce in the next season. The policy seeks overall production of the item to continue without a break.
But the ground reality is that the farmers do not get the benefits of the official price or prices. The operators of the official procurement centres, when approached by the small and marginal farmers, refuse to deal with them, on this or that plea. The small and marginal farmers, needing cash to meet their urgent needs, cannot hold on to their stocks for long. Consequently, they are forced to sell their produce to private middlemen at prices well below the ones declared by the government. The middlemen sell their stocks at the official prices to the government-run procurement centres awaiting them. The benefits of the official prices go to the middlemen and not to the farmers. The operators of the government's procurement centres have a hand-in-glove relationship with the middlemen. The real lubricant of this relationship is sharing the booty at the cost of the growers.
The corruption at the procurement centres needs to be eliminated for good. The growers, living in extreme poverty, need to get effective price support not in words but in deeds, to improve their income out of their hard work. Large scale poverty reduction in the countryside where over eighty per cent of the people live, would depend on proper implementation of policies to ensure good prices to the growers for their produce.
Ahmed Jubair
Dhanmondi,
Dhaka
But the ground reality is that the farmers do not get the benefits of the official price or prices. The operators of the official procurement centres, when approached by the small and marginal farmers, refuse to deal with them, on this or that plea. The small and marginal farmers, needing cash to meet their urgent needs, cannot hold on to their stocks for long. Consequently, they are forced to sell their produce to private middlemen at prices well below the ones declared by the government. The middlemen sell their stocks at the official prices to the government-run procurement centres awaiting them. The benefits of the official prices go to the middlemen and not to the farmers. The operators of the government's procurement centres have a hand-in-glove relationship with the middlemen. The real lubricant of this relationship is sharing the booty at the cost of the growers.
The corruption at the procurement centres needs to be eliminated for good. The growers, living in extreme poverty, need to get effective price support not in words but in deeds, to improve their income out of their hard work. Large scale poverty reduction in the countryside where over eighty per cent of the people live, would depend on proper implementation of policies to ensure good prices to the growers for their produce.
Ahmed Jubair
Dhanmondi,
Dhaka