Paddy procurement tardy, no festivities for farmers

Depressed and distressed, farmers have been spending gloomy days in various mandis. Festive season is here, but there’s nothing to cheer about for farmers. Everything for them is “Rabb aasre” (at God’s mercy).

Satnam Singh, a farmer from Nahl village, is away from his newborn twins for past six days. Reason: His harvested crop lies unsold at the Lohian mandi.

After six days, the process to weigh his produce was finally started and he could heave a sigh of relief. “I have been staying put at the mandi since October 15, just because the government is not serious towards this grave problem,” he told The Tribune. His produce had not been procured even after six days, he added.

Kasu Balwinder Singh, a farmer from Gatta Mundi, has spent eight days in the mandi. “There is no festival for us. I am here in the mandi for the past eight days and today, some of my produce was put into bardanas,” he said.

Farmers said it seemed Diwali would be dark for them this year. Most of them had not received any payment for their produce so far, they added.

Kirpal Singh from Musapur said they didn’t know what to do. “How long can we sit here. If we go home, someone may steal our produce. But do we have any other option? Nobody is thinking about us,” he said.

Farmers have been sitting in mandis awaiting their produce to get purchased so that they can get money to clear their debts. “With the payment that we get for our produce, we don’t do anything for ourselves. First, we have to clear the dues of moneylenders, then we can buy seeds and fertilisers for the next crop. This time, things have been too hard,” said Sandeep Singh, a farmer from Khichipur.

Jamsher Khas villager Sukhpreet Singh said even the village mandi was not functional. “Farmers can’t unload their produce from tractor-trailers as arhtiyas have asked them not to bring it to the mandi,” he said.

Spending days in mandis

• Farmers have been spending night in mandis awaiting their paddy produce to be procured and lifted
• Satnam Singh, a farmer from Nahl village, is away from his newborn twins for past six days as his crop lies unsold at the Lohian mandi
• Kasu Balwinder Singh, a farmer from Gatta Mundi, has spent eight days in the mandi; some of his produce was procured on Sunday