Andhra Pradesh - Ongole   

Bengal gram no more farmers’ favourite

M. Venkateswara Rao

Ryots struggling to dispose unsold stocks

ONGOLE: As bengal gram farmers are saddled with unsold stocks of seven lakh quintals in Prakasam district alone, the interest to raise the crop is on the decline and they are compelled to switch back to tobacco cultivation this year.

The price declined from Rs. 4,000 to Rs. 2,200 per quintal in the last seven months. What is worse, there are no buyers even at this low price now. Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy during his visit to Karamchedu on June 2, promised purchase of three lakh quintals of bengal gram through Markfed. But it did not materialise till now causing dismay among farmers.

Following the crop holiday declared for tobacco, some farmers experimented with bengal gram as an alternative crop. They found to their happiness that bengal gram yielded good yield and also fetched attractive price. No wonder, the area under bengal gram increased in geometric proportion in the last three years and occupied 2.5 lakh acres, the largest area under any single crop in the district.

Farmers got an yield of 6-8 quintals per acre and they could sell the produce at Rs. 2,700 to Rs. 4,000 per quintal. As the crop gave handsome returns, it became a craze among farmers so much that the lease rate skyrocketed to Rs. 10,000 per acre and the seed cost went up to Rs. 6,500 per quintal.

The enterprising farmers took to Mexican Bold and Kak 2, called thella senagalu in local parlance, which gave higher yield and fetched higher price than local varieties like ‘annagiri’ or ‘yerra senagalu.’

Traders from Madhya Pradesh purchased most of the stocks. But the market suddenly took a downward trend in last August when the government imposed ban on export of bengal gram. Following intervention of Union Minister of State for Human Resources D. Purandareeswari, the government lifted the ban. But the price did not register any increase.

Even as the farmers struggled to dispose of their unsold stocks of one lakh quintals of last year produce, the new crop arrived in the market making bad things worse. Nearly seven lakh quintals of bengal gram is now lying unsold in 15 cold storage units in the district where farmers are required to pay a rent of Rs. 70 per quintal per year.

CPI (M) leader N. Ranga Rao has asked the government to direct Markfed to enter the market without further delay and purchase the produce to provide relief to farmers lest they should go back to tobacco compounding market problems in tobacco market.

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