M A I N   N E W S

Guar price in free fall, farmers fume
Sushil Manav/Raj Sadosh
Tribune News Service

The ‘green gold’ Guar, dubbed ‘green gold’, is a rain-fed monsoon crop requiring 8-15 inches of rain in 3-4 spells India leads the way India is the leading producer of guar and guar gum in the world. Rajasthan leads the way with 70 per cent production in the country Guar gum is used in the food and pharmaceutical industries. it is also used as a thickener in toothpaste and conditioner The China factor A strong demand from the shale gas industry led to a spurt in guar gum production last year But cheap alternatives from China are being blamed for Indian traders’ plight Sown in 8,000 acres Apart from Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat and Punjab are the other guar producing states In Rajasthan, guar seed was grown on 3.5 million hectares in 2013 Guar had been sown on around 8,000 acres in Khuyiansarwer and Abohar blocks

Sirsa/Abohar, november 24
Ellenabad farmer Sat Narain is in no hurry to sell his 50 quintal guar, a costly legume, which he has grown on 10 acres. With current price of guar hovering at Rs 4,500 per quintal, Narain hopes it will touch the Rs 30,000 per quintal mark of last year.

Though Narain grew guar on just two to three acres, he decided to go with the crop on the better part of his total landholding this time as the prices had shot up last year.

Unaware of the nitty-gritty of market forces that led to huge fluctuation in prices, Narain has decided to wait, as he still remembers how prices soared to Rs 31,500 per quintal in March 2012 after he had sold his guar for Rs 6,100 per quintal in the beginning of January that year.

Like Narain, hundreds of farmers in Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan have sown guar on large areas in the hope of seeing the tide turning in their favour. But the dreams of guar riches are now fading.

A strong demand from the shale gas industry had led to a spurt in guar gum production, but cheap alternatives from China are threatening to end the party. Cheap thickening agents from China are being blamed for Indian traders’ plight.

“Carboxymethyl cellulose (cellulose gum) and xanthan gum, which like guar gum were earlier used only in food items, have found their way into the crude oil industry,” say experts.

Guar gum, called “green gold”, had changed the fortunes of the hundreds of farmers last year in the Sriganganagar-Hanumangarh and neighbouring Abohar-Sirsa belts.

But the gamble seems to have backfired on farmers who shifted to guar sowing, expecting high income, in this remote subdivision of Punjab, as prices that escalated last year by “dibba” (illegal trading) have nosedived this year.

Guar had been sown on around 8,000 acres in Khuyiansarwer and Abohar blocks, sources said. Guar gum is used in the food and pharmaceutical industries, oil drilling and fracking, textile printing and paper making.

Multinationals such as Nestle, Mars, Heinz and Unilever are among its users. The US, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and Japan are the key importers. India is the leading producer of guar and guar gum in the world. It shares around 80 per cent production in the world, with Pakistan being another major producer.

In India, Rajasthan is the leading producer (70 per cent) of guar seed and guar gum. Haryana, Gujarat and Punjab are the other guar producing states.

In Rajasthan, guar seed was grown on 3.5 million hectares in 2013.

“Our target was to cover 50,000 hectares in Haryana and Punjab, of which we covered 44,000 hectares in Punjab,” said Sanjay Pareek, vice-president of Vikas WSP.

“We gave farmers 2.5-kg guar seeds for each acre, and educated them about its farming, micronutrients (boron and zinc), and pesticides, which we made available free of cost,” he added.

Vikas WSP CMD BD Aggarwal is now concentrating on the Rajasthan Assembly elections by reviving the National Unionist Zamindara Party. The party counts on the support of Rajasthan’s three lakh guar farmers.

Sources said the contracts for guar seed, which were to be delivered in October, opened at Rs 7,730 a quintal on May 14 and dropped to Rs 4,040 on August 12, speculating on record production this year following bountiful monsoon. Farmers usually sell most of their guar stock by March, but this year they decided to hold on to their stocks with the hope of getting better prices, said Surinder Somani, a trader. But guar price continues to disappoint farmers.

Mohinderjit Singh, a graduate farmer from Wahabwala village in Abohar block, blames unfriendly climate for guar losing its sheen within a year of hype. For the past two years, the Punjab Government had not taken steps to save crops from drain water fury, he said.

Most farmers who continued with BT cotton farming have been able to earn Rs 30,000 per acre even when price could not be described remunerative and per acre produce too had fallen, said Kuldeep Singh Sandhu, a farmer from Arniwala village.

Pankaj Khemka, state secretary of the Haryana Guar Powder Association, believes if farmers are unable to get a lucrative price for their produce, the Central Government is squarely to blame for failing to plug loopholes in the system that allows a few people to manipulate the market by overselling the produce on the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) without the onus of actually delivery of goods.

“We have requested the government to ban forward trade in guar, but it chose to open it again this year after keeping it closed for two years,” said Khemka.