Bhopal(Madhya Pradesh): Farmers and Mandi Board administration have come face to face over purchase of tarpaulin for protection of agricultural produce from pre-monsoon rain on mandi premises.
Mandi receives agricultural produce in abundance but there are not enough sheds to protect the crops from rain.
In case of sudden rains it is not possible for farmers to shift the crops they bring to Mandi to godown. Madhya Pradesh has storage capacity of 250 lakh MT in various godowns.
In absence of sheds on mandi premises, the crops farmers bring to mandi remain exposed to rain. The farmers thus are demanding the mandi authorities to buy tarpaulins for the protection of their produce from pre-monsoon rains , however, the mandi administration has bluntly refused saying that the tarpaulin are for one-time use and there are high chances of corruption in procurement.
Madhya Pradesh Agriculture Marketing Board (Mandi Board) joint director Chandrashekhar Vashisht said that Mandi Board will not purchase Tarpaulin to cover agriculture produce kept on Mandi premises. Admitting to the fact that other agencies like MARKFED, food and civil supplies purchase tarpaulin, Vashisht, however, added that it was not the solution.
“There are sheds and farmers should store their agricultural produce in sheds. We have sheds in all mandis in Madhya Pradesh,” said the official. The farmers, however, are not buying his claim.
Kedar Sirohi, farmers’ leader, said, “ There are no required facilities on mandi premises to protect agricultural produce against pre-monsoon rains. Sheds are not in required numbers. In case of rain it is not possible to shift produce brought to the campus to godowns and so we are demanding the authorities to provide us tarpaulin to protect the crops.”
The farmers’ leader rather sees an alleged nexus between mandi authorities and traders.
“It is a tactic on part of mandi administration. Wheat particularly loses shine if exposed to rain and when we sell this crop to the mandi, they buy it at much lower rate terming it as poor quality. And because of this ‘nexus’ the mandi administration is not ensuring to protect our crops,” he alleged.
