The opposition staged a walk out in the Assembly on Monday in protest against what opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala termed “the government's refusal to entertain their demands to increase the support prices for coconut and rubber” and for “claiming normalcy in the agriculture sector” in the face of farmers' suicides.
The walk out came after a one-and-a-half hour discussion on the crisis in the agriculture sector. The issue was first raised as an adjournment motion in the House by Congress's Peravoor MLA Sunny Joseph. However, catching the opposition off guard, agriculture minister V S Sunil Kumar agreed to a discussion. Usually, adjournment motions are turned down after a brief round of discussion.
Raw deal for coconut
The opposition wanted the government to raise the minimum support price of raw coconut from Rs 27 to Rs 40 and the rubber subsidy to Rs 200 from Rs 150. The minister did not reject the demands outright but said that the government would step in if the market price of rubber fell below Rs 27. “This is what the government had said when the support price was raised to Rs 27,” Sunil Kumar said.
It was Kerala Congress veteran P J Joseph who was the most vocal about the demand. “You should at least raise the support price to Rs 40 or else it will be hard for coconut farmers to survive,” he said.
Mani sir's large heart
The UDF members also reminded the minister that it was high time the rubber subsidy, as part of the Price Stability Scheme introduced by former Finance Minister K M Mani, was increased. “When Mani introduced the scheme, a kilo or rubber fetched just Rs 70. Now it commands nearly Rs 130. And now the cost of production of a kilo of rubber is Rs 170. We should in fact increase the assistance to Rs 250,” Joseph said.
Sunny Joseph, who moved the motion, said that rubber subsidy had not been paid since March 2019. The minister brushed aside the charge and said that the LDF government had already disbursed more money as rubber subsidy than during the whole of the UDF tenure. The opposition members were heard shouting that the scheme was introduced only during the last fiscal of the UDF tenure.
Loan crisis for farmers
The other major opposition charge was that banks were refusing to offer loans to farmers because the Supplyco had failed to pay back the banks. To ensure prompt payment, coconut and paddy farmers are granted support prices for their produce through the banks when they produce their paddy registration sheets (PRS). This was done on the condition that the banks would be paid back with interest by the Supplyco.
Now with Supplyco delaying the payment, the banks have lowered the credit rating of farmers and had begun to refuse them all types of loans including for housing and for the education of their children.
Civil Supplies Minister P Thilothaman said the non-payment to the banks was the result of the Centre inordinately delaying the transfer of its share of support prices to the State. “However, we have called an SLBC (State-Level Bankers' Committee) meeting and sorted out all issues. Banks will continue to pay the farmers under the PRS scheme,” Thilothaman assured the House, and added: “Also, no farmer will have any problem getting bank loans.”
Three suspect laws
The agriculture minister told the Opposition that its anger should be ideally directed at the Centre. “The Union finance minister has said in her budget that only those states that implemented three laws that were passed by the NDA government would be given encouragement under agriculture,” Sunil Kumar said. He said all the three laws were inimical to the state's interests.
The three laws are: Model Agricultural Land Leasing Act, 2016; Model Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2017; and Model Agricultural Produce and Livestock Contract Farming and Services (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2018.
He said the Leasing Act was not practical in Kerala where land reforms had been undertaken. The Livestock Marketing Act was to promote its anti-beef political agenda, Sunil Kumar said. The third was an attempt to make us surrender our farm lands to the corporates. “We should pass a joint resolution in the House against this,” Sunil Kumar said.
