Why These Farmers in Bihar Set Fire to Sackfuls of Their Paddy

A group of farmers in Bihar's Jehanabad district, today set fire to 50 sacks of paddy outside a municipal office, to protest against the state government for not buying their crop.

State governments have to compulsorily buy a minimum amount of paddy from farmers, for, among other things, the public distribution system and mid-day-meals. Because the Bihar government has failed to achieve its target, farmers have had to use middlemen to sell their harvest. This has cut into farmers' profit margins.

"The government has not taken even one sack of rice," says Indrajit Sharma, a farmer who's leading the protests. "Only the middlemen in the market are buying it,'' he adds.
 

The Centre in November directed Bihar to buy 30 lakh metric tonnes of paddy from over two lakh farmers in the state by January 31. That deadline was extended twice and it ended yesterday.

As of March 31, Bihar had only bought a little over half the target amount. Paddy is usually harvested here in November-December.

Shyam Rajak, Bihar's State Food and Civil Supplies Minister, said recently that his government was trying its best to acquire paddy from farmers, but the centre's "irrational" norms -- like how much moisture the acquired paddy must have - is making their task difficult.

Farmers who sell their paddy to state governments get a Minimum Support Price that's usually higher than the open market price. By having to go through middlemen, farmers lose Rs. 340-360 per quintal.
 

"The middlemen are involved, with the active collusion of the government,'' said Ram Vilas Paswan, the central Food and Civil Supplies Minister, at a press conference today in Delhi. "The Bihar government only kept asking for extensions, and we even gave them those extensions. But still nothing has moved," he said.