The Hindu : Procurement shift to solve bajra row

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 16, 2003

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Procurement shift to solve bajra row

By Our Staff Correspondent

JAIPUR OCT. 15. Even as the ruling Congress(I) and Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party in Rajasthan trade charges and counter-charges over procurement of bajra, a noted economist here has suggested a shift in the procurement policy to make the coarse grain available for drought relief programme and develop the derived products from bajra for urban consumers.

With 2003-4 marking another year of glut in bajra production, the State may not be in a position to sustain the current procurement policy in view of the possibility of confrontation with farmers over increasing supplies and the shrinking demand in coming years. The farmers have harvested a bumper crop this time after a series of drought years.

The Centre has announced relaxation in the quality norms for bajra procurement and the Food Corporation of India and the Rajasthan Cooperative Marketing Federation will now procure bajra with 7.5 per cent slightly damaged/discoloured grain, against the 2.5 per cent level provided in the uniform specifications. The decision follows the recent visit of a Central team.

Though the procurement would provide relief to the drought-hit farmers, Vidya Sagar, an economist with the Jaipur-based Institute of Development Studies, says the policy cannot be sustained for long and has called for medium to short-term changes in agricultural policy as to shift the crop pattern in favour of competing crops for which there is adequate demand.

Dr. Sagar told The Hindu today that major changes in the consumption basket against the coarse cereals generally and bajra in particular had led to a steady increase in the share of marketed surplus in bajra over the years. "The divergence between the demand for bajra and its supply is likely to grow further in the coming years, making the policy changes imperative," he said.

Tough the per capita production of bajra in the State has declined from 80 kg in 1970-71 to 30 kg in 2001-2 and its crop area reduced by 10 per cent during the triennium ending 2001-2, the trend of growth of productivity is continuing. Going beyond the politics of bajra procurement at the time of Assembly elections, the policy options for the State, according to Dr. Sagar, include:

- Development of suitable technology for kharif oilseed such as sesame and pulses for diversifying the cropping pattern in the regions growing bajra.

Development of derived products from bajra, such as health products for urban centres, including roasts and puffs, or products that can be used as feed for poultry and cattle.

- Continuance of the Government procurement of bajra for the targeted Public Distribution System, drought relief programme and mid-day meals scheme in schools.

-The area under the bajra cultivation can be shifted to the competing crops for which there is an adequate demand. Dr. Sagar pointed out that pulses, such as moong, moth and chaula, guar and sesame were the crops that could substitute in the area under bajra in different agro-climatic sub-regions. Pulses, being the leguminous crops, would also increase soil productivity for rabi crops and release pressure on pulse prices.

Dr. Sagar admitted that the increase in pulse prices would not be adequate to compensate for the growth of productivity in the competing bajra crop. Besides, while the crop productivity, driven mainly by technology, may be controlled within the domestic agricultural environment, profitability through increase in prices falls within the domain of "political economy" of imports in the liberalised farm trade environment.

Alternately, the State can continue to procure bajra for the management of drought relief programme and distribute it in place of wheat to the labourers. This would also reduce the subsidy component considerably. However, Dr. Sagar said since the taste of the rural population had changed in favour of wheat, there would be a question mark on the sustainability of bajra as the PDS or relief grain.

On the other hand, the alternate use of bajra can be developed by producing feed for poultry and cattle and evolving products in the health food category for the urban population. Dr. Sagar affirmed that the feasible long-term option for the State would be the development of technology for the crops that suit agro-climatic conditions of the bajra cultivation areas.

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