DECODE PUNJAB: Unions told small, marginal farmers to burn stubble: BKU-Dakaunda gen secy

Farmer unions in the state have told growers that they should burn stubble. This is because the small and marginal farmers, who constitute 68% of agriculturists, can neither afford to buy the crop residue management (CRM) machines, nor can they afford to pay the rent for hiring these machines from rich farmers.

This was stated by Jagmohan Singh Patiala, general secretary of BKU-Dakaunda, during an interaction with The Tribune as part of the newspaper’s digital show, Decode Punjab. Patiala reiterated that it was not just for the 1.32 lakh members of the BKU-Dakaunda, but all farmer unions had asked peasants to go in for paddy stubble burning. Till date, 4,145 incidents of farm fire have been reported from the state, and nearly 60% of paddy has arrived in the mandis.

He said farmers in Punjab were restive because of the tardy paddy procurement, but it was not causing, or would cause, any social unrest in the future.

In response to a question if the farmer unions were not concerned about the damage that farm fires cause to the environment, Patiala said small farmers had no option. “There is need for scientific management of stubble. We have proposed that CRM machines should be given to cooperative societies so that farmers can get them at nominal rates. Only rich farmers can afford to buy the machines and get a subsidy too. However, when small farmers have to use it, the rich farmer seeks a rent from them. We have been demanding a bonus of Rs 4,000 per acre on paddy, so that farmers can use the money to make bales of crop residue and then sell it to companies involved in ex-situ stubble management. Instead of giving subsidy on buying machines, incentivise small farmers to manage stubble scientifically,” he said, adding that farms in Punjab were already over-mechanised.

“Buying more machines would only push farmers to further indebtedness. If farmers are incentivised for scientific management of stubble, and they still set fields on fire, the unions will take action against them,” he said. The BKU-Dakaunda leader said though the SKM did not oppose the setting up or commissioning of compressed bio gas plants, the BKU-Rajewal did so as these plants too cause pollution.

He felt that the Union government’s dependence on wheat and paddy grown in Punjab was much less now. “We are ready to diversify to sunflower, chickpeas or pulses, but only if the income of farmers is protected and they can get the same money as they earn from paddy,” he said.

He also rued that DAP was in short supply and how private traders were tagging unnecessary items with it to make extra money and how the fertiliser was being diverted to poll-bound constituencies in the state.