Trinamool opposition to Bill due to Left stand: Biman Basu

KOLKATA, July 20: The Trinamool Congress claims to be against pushing through the Forward Contract Regulation Act (Amendment) Bill only because the Left parties are opposing forward trading in food items and essential commodities, said Biman Basu, Chairman of the Left Front Committee in the State, here on Thursday.

“Forward trading was accepted as a policy when the National Democratic Alliance was in power at the Centre and the Trinamool Congress was one of its constituents. We had never heard of the party opposing it then. Neither did it oppose it as a part of the United Progressive Alliance II Government. The Trinamool Congress is only opposing it in the State because the Left parties are against it,” Basu said.

“The Left parties, however, have no difficulty with this (the opposition of the Trinamool Congress to forward trading)” he said, adding that the Left Front is “totally opposed to both forward trading in commodities and foreign participation in commodity markets”.

The Left Front is engaged in a sustained campaign against forward trading on food items and essential commodities as it is on several other issues, said Biman Basu, who is also the State Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), after a meeting of the Left Front Committee.

As part of its agitation programme in protest against rising prices of essential commodities as well as the Centre’s proposed Food Security Bill in its present form, the Left parties will hold a 48-hour sit-in demonstration from August 1 in Kolkata and the districts, he said.

The Left Front will also take out a “grand procession” against imperialism in Kolkata and in Siliguri on September 1– the day Germany had invaded Poland in 1939 and one which is observed as “Anti-Imperialism” and “Anti-War” Day. This time round the day will hold special significance in view of the U.S. designs to extend its military presence in Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal, said Basu.

The Left Front also expressed concern at the manner in which the Mamata Government was dismantling the panchayat system by getting district officials to take over their functioning. A deputation of members of panchayats run by the Left parties will submit a memorandum in protest against attempts to undermine the three-tier system, he added.

Why this Shadow of Vidharbha over West Bengal?

How many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died?

THE lyrics of Bob Dylan reverberate in rural West Bengal these days, may be in a different refrain. In the last seven months of ‘changed’ regime, 51 farmers have committed suicide in the state. Dhana Tudu, an agricultural worker in Bhatar, Burdwan was the first. Khandu Ghosh, a poor peasant of Sadar1 block of the same district was the 50th. Ghosh hanged himself on April 27. He cultivated Aman rice in 10 bighas of land few months earlier. The produce did not fetch remunerative price as was the case with overwhelming majority of farmers in the state. Then he tried Boro cultivation but the paddy was destroyed by insects. In fact, there is a large scale insect attack in Burdwan and some other districts. Khandu Ghosh, after realising that his cultivation has been destroyed, committed suicide. Even before the news of this 50th death was commented upon, Mana Malik, a female sharecropper followed suit, again in Burdwan, this time in Jamalpur block. The story of young Mana, wife of a worker, is almost same as her paddy was also destroyed. Almost all of them were reeling under debt.

The brunt of spate of suicides has been felt by Burdwan, the leading paddy producer in the state. Till now, 35 farmers have taken their lives in this district alone. Three in Maldaha, two each in Bankura, Murshidabad, Hooghly, North 24 Parganas, one each in Jalpaiguri, West Midnapur, Howrah, Birbhum and south 24 Parganas.

The shadow of Vidharbha over West Bengal has raised serious questions. More than one lakh farmers’ suicides have taken place in the country in the last one decade. But West Bengal, except for sparse incidents, remained free from this trend. There was virtually no peasant suicides in the state related with crisis in agriculture during the tenure of the Left Front government. Even the virulent anti-Left media did not report any such incidents. Why this stream of suicides now? Madan Ghosh, state president of AIKS, identified neo-liberal policies as the central reason. ‘More than four  farmers’ suicides per month have taken place under the new government in the state. The central policies and the failure of the state government to protect the peasants are two principal factors behind such a tragedy’, said Ghosh. Both the governments are pursuing neo-liberal policies, he added.

The cost of production has sky rocketed in the recent period. The price of fertilizer has increased manifold. So are prices of other inputs like insecticides, seeds etc. The crisis in agriculture is an all India phenomenon. But during the Left Front period, the state government extended all possible protective measures to defend the peasants. That infrastructure has virtually collapsed under the new regime.

The minimum support price is usually much lower than the production cost. For example, while the per quintal production cost of jute was in the range of Rs 2000 to Rs 2500 in last season, MSP was declared at Rs 1175 only. Likewise, while MSP for the next season has been fixed at Rs 2200, the cost of production has meanwhile increased to Rs 3500 per quintal. Madan Ghosh alleged that the farmers have not received even the MSP. It was in the case of paddy too. No serious effort was made to procure paddy from the peasants. Farmers were forced to sell at distress prices. Same thing happened in the case of potatoes and onions.

This wide gap between production cost and sale price accentuated the problem of debt in rural Bengal. Farmers are taking recourse to private lending and micro finance loans with high interest rates.

Even this will not explain in full the disastrous situation prevailing in West Bengal today. Panchayats have been rendered inoperative systematically. The decentralisation of power has been reversed. This resulted in collapse of rural development programme and employment generation schemes, including MNREGA. Agricultural workers and poor peasants, partially dependent on such jobs, have lost their source of income. In a reign of terror, the peasants in most parts of the state are still unable to pressurise the government machinery to redress.

Bob Dylan’s lyrics have become relevant in the backdrop of continuous denial of the tragedy by the chief minister herself and her administration. In fact, the chief minister has admitted of only ‘one’ such incident without identifying which one. There is growing discontent in rural Bengal over neglect of peasantry while the state administration is busy in superficial beautification of Kolkata.

Left peasant organisations, along with other mass organisations have already initiated struggles against anti-peasant, anti-people policies of the government. Village level and block level rallies and jathas have taken place. Madan Ghosh said, ‘We are strongly against suicides. Our call is ‘Unite to struggle, not suicides.’

People’s Democracy, May 06, 2012

Low foodgrain production in high-yielding states: Study

BUSINESS STANDARD / New Delhi October 17, 2011, 1:09 IST

Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, and Karnataka have shown high-growth momentum in agricultural foodgrain production during the last five years and have the potential to contribute significantly to India’s foodgrain basket.

The share of these low-foodgrain yielding states in the total foodgrain production of India have improved from 17.4 per cent to 19 per cent during 2002-06 period over 2007-11 period.

However, the contribution of the states with high-yield foodgrain production like Punjab, Kerala, West Bengal, and Uttar Pradesh to the national basket has declined from around 41 per cent to around 38 per cent during the same period, a study conducted by PHD Chamber Research Bureau said here today.

Jharkhand posted 40 per cent growth in the foodgrain production during the last five-year-period (2007-11) over the previous five-year period (2002-06), growing from 2.28 million tonnes (mt) (annual average) in 2002-06 to 3.20 mt (annual average) during 2007-11 period.

Similarly, Rajasthan posted a foodgrain production growth of 21.84 per cent over the same period, growing from 12.62 mt (annual average) in 2002-06 to 15.38 mt (annual average) during 2007-11.

Foodgrain productions in Karnataka and Maharashtra have also grown at impressive rates of 24.09 per cent and 22.3 per cent, respectively, the PHD Chamber study said.

The green revolution effect of high-yield agrarian states like Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh seems to be fading. The foodgrain production growth in these states has reached a saturation point, the study pointed out.

Punjab, the significant contributor to the foodgrain production of India where per hectare yield is also highest in the country (4,148 kg/hectare), has registered around eight per cent growth in the last five-year period (2007-11).

Foodgrain production in West Bengal (2,561 kg/hectare) and Uttar Pradesh (2,260 kg/hectare) have grown at modest (-)2 per cent and eight per cent, respectively, the study added. Kerala with 2,896 kg/ hectare foodgrain production has grown at a disappointing (-) 10.9 per cent.

It is a matter of concern that the states with high yield of foodgrain production like Punjab, Kerala, West Bengal, and Uttar Pradesh have registered a declining trend in the growth of food grains.

Their contribution to the national basket has declined from around 41 per cent in 2002-06 period to around 38 per cent during 2007-11 period. In comparison to this, the share of the low-yielding states including Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, and Karnataka have improved from 17.4 per cent to 19 per cent during the same period, according to the study.

On the contrary, states with low-foodgrain yield per hectare, which have not been exploited to the fullest, have registered high-growth potentials during the period, the study said.

Good harvest cools potato prices

20 Jan, 2011, 01.14AM IST, Sutanuka Ghosal & Madhvi Sally,ET Bureau

KOLKATA & CHANDIGARH: Though onion prices are yet to cool down, potato prices have dropped at the retail end. An early good crop of potatoes in Punjab, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh has pushed down the prices. While in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, mandi prices of the Pukhraj variety are hovering around Rs 2.50-2.75 per kg, the mandi price is about Rs 4 - 4.50 per kg in West Bengal. Potato prices in southern India are ruling at Rs 14-16 a kg.

According to industry officials, supplies will pick up by the second week of February across the main centres of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. Sachid Madan, director, Technico Agri Sciences, a subsidiary of the cigarette-to-hotel major ITC, said potato production was likely to remain at 32 million tonne and prices would be firm. “Prices will correct when cold stores open by February,” he said while adding that the processing varieties will be harvested by the second week of February.

“The prices of processing varieties such as Chipsona and Lady Rosetta are ruling at `10 a kg in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh whereas in Uttar Pradesh the prices are at `6.5-7 a kg,” he said.

Bengal is expecting a 95-lakh-tonne production this year as well. “Weather has been favourable. Though the sowing area is slightly less this year, we expect production will be around 95 lakh tonnes,” said Sanatan Santra, president of West Bengal Progressive Potato Traders Association.

At a Ludhiana mandi, Rajesh Khanna, owner of Ramji Das Benarsi Das, said potato was sold for ` 6 a kg in January first week but the price has gradually fallen. On Wednesday, spot prices were quoted at `2.50-2.75 per kg for the early-crop Pukhraj variety. He added that prices were ruling at `4- 4.50 a kg in West Bengal and `4.50 at the Khandauli mandi in Agra.

Leftist peasants forums meet Buddhadeb on drought issue

09:09 PM, Sep 15, 2010

 

Kolkata, Sep 15 (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was today urged to approach the Centre to declare the 11-drought affected districts as a 'national disaster'."A six-point charter of demands have been placed before the CM in the interest of farmers in 11 affected districts in the state," president of CPI(M) peasants' forum Pashimbanga Pradeshik Krishaksabha Madan Ghosh said.

The chief minister was also urged to waive crop loans for the khariff season, besides extending loans to farmers for the next crop at 4 per cent interest.Regretting that the state government had received only Rs 170 crore against an allocation of Rs 1400 crore from the Centre under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), the forum demanded that the Centre release the remainder immediately.It also urged the state government to create more water bodies through panchayat departments in the affected districts, besides supplying the farmers with better quality seeds.The chief minister also elaborated on steps taken by the state government to overcome the drought situation, Ghosh said.

Potato prices may dip as Bengal plans stock cut

By Sutanuka Ghosal & Madhvi Sally, ET Bureau

3rd Sept, 2010, 12.24AM IST

KOLKATA & CHANDIGARH: Potato prices may drop as the West Bengal government is all set to offload 1 million tonne (mt) in the market by next week to rapidly cut excess stocks. Output in India’s second largest potato growing state doubled this year to touch almost 10 mt. But branded snack companies such as ITC and Pepsi will see no dip in raw material costs as the prices of the specialised varieties they buy remain steady.

Talking to ET, Mr Mortaza Hossain, West Bengal’s minister of agricultural marketing, said: “We have decided to offload the potato that we had asked consumer cooperatives under the West Bengal State Consumers Cooperative Federation (Confed) to procure. The offloading will begin from next week. We are currently working on the model that we will use to offload these potatoes.”

West Bengal finance minister Asim Dasgupta said: “These potatoes will be sold in two phases. The first phase will kick off from September 9 and will continue till the first week of October. In the first phase, we will offload 5 lakh tonne. Of this 5 lakh tonne, 1 lakh tonne will be sold through public distribution system at a price lower than the market price by Re 1 per kg. The rest 4 lakh tonne will be sold through a tendering process.” The second phase will begin after the Pujas and will continue till the first week of December. “The modalities of selling potatoes in the second phase has not yet been decided,” he added.

Confed had procured 1 mt from farmers at Rs 3.50 per kg. Prices in retail markets are currently ruling at Rs 5-12 a kg. Prices of varieties used in snacks such as Chipsona, Atlantic and Lady Rosetta are ruling at Rs 8-9 a kg, said Nischint Bhatia, executive vice-president at PepsiCo India.

Potato is India’s top vegetable crop, with an annual output of 35 mt that contributes the lion’s share to the total annual vegetable production of 100 million tonne. Table potato prices are politically sensitive for the government that monitors them closely as it is an Indian household favourite across incomes.

“A sentiment dip for a short term may happen. In the long term, prices will remain stable before the new crop hits the market from Punjab, West Bengal and Bihar,” said Sachid Madan, director at Technico Agri Sciences, a subsidiary of the cigarettes-to-hotel major ITC Limited. “Prices are bound to increase by Rs 2-3 in October-November when new processing variety crop comes from South and Central India.

However, with Punjab crop coming in from November, end prices will touch Rs 8-9 a kg,” he said.

The company procures close to 1.5 lakh tonne potato annually. In the previous year, processing varieties prices had touched at Rs 16 a kg.

In Bengal, consumers at the retail end get two kinds of potatoes — Chandramukhi and Jyoti. In the wholesale market, Chandramukhi potatoes are available at Rs 600-625 per quintal whereas Jyoti is available at Rs 500 per quintal. The retail consumer gets Jyoti potatoes at Rs 6 a kg whereas the Chandramukhi variety is available at Rs 8-9 per kg.

Sowing has already begun in Una district of Himachal Pradesh and Hoshiarpur district of Punjab where Pukhraj and Chandramukhi varieties are being planted. Across India, sowing will begin after paddy is harvested in October. “The Una and Hoshiarpur crop will come into the market by November and we expect prices to fall with a huge stock in the country,” said Naininder Singh Dhillon, an expert in potato marketing and farming in Punjab.

On Thursday, the MCX September contract was ruling at Rs 425.70, October at Rs 453.10 and March 2011 at Rs 468.10.

It's all lies and slander, says Buddhadeb

By Ananya Dutta

KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the Trinamool Congress for “being a party of grotesque lies and slander.”

“Here is a political party [Trinamool Congress] that is surviving on lies….How long will the people of West Bengal accept these lies? I believe that they will on no account accept the grotesque lies and slander of this party,” Mr. Bhattacharjee said at a rally to commemorate the death of 80 supporters of the Left parties during a protest demanding food in the city in 1959.

Mr. Bhattacharjee cited several examples of “unfounded claims” made by Ms. Banerjee — the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was responsible for incidents such as the devastating fire at the Stephen Court, the Jnaneswari Express derailment, the accident in Sainthia and the disruption of her convoy on her return from Lalgarh.

“Lies, all lies,” he emphatically declared to a stadium full of supporters, who responded with a thundering applause.

The Trinamool was a party “without a policy or agenda” and it solely depended on Ms. Banerjee's word. The State had already suffered many losses because of them, Mr. Bhattacharjee said.

Referring to the Trinamool-led agitations in Singur and Nandigram, he said: “Everyone in West Bengal knows the losses that the State has suffered. Shall we accept more of these injustices? The nexus between the Trinamool and Maoists began in Nandigram where we could not defeat them and had to retreat……It will have to be seen if we can limit them to the Jangalmahal region or will the joint army of the Trinamool and Maoists convert all of West Bengal into Jangalmahal.”

Several people in the State had begun to believe in the lies being spread by the Trinamool and it was the responsibility of the supporters of the Left parties to reach out to them and convince them otherwise, he added.

Farmer abandoned

Mr. Bhattacharjee raised concerns at food security and the abdication of responsibility by the Centre.

“The Centre has abandoned the farmer. It is not even spending what was spent earlier in the form of subsidies,” he said. The country's agricultural productivity had dropped over the last few years.

He questioned the Centre's claim that agricultural productivity would increase fourfold, adding that a situation was arising wherein the country's food security would be on the brink of a breakdown.

“While rice and wheat are rotting in the godowns of the Food Corporation of India, people will be forced to die of starvation,” he said.

Mr. Bhattacharjee appealed to the Centre to release funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act to drought-affected West Bengal.

THE HINDU, 1st Sept. 2010

Drought-affected West Bengal hit by lack of farm investment

By Romita Datta

LIVE MINT Posted: Tue, Aug 31 2010. 9:26 PM IST

The drought, caused by a 32% shortfall in rain, has affected at least one-fifth of the state’s cultivable land

Burdwan, West Bengal: There’s suddenly a flurry of activity in Karotia, a nondescript village in West Bengal’s Burdwan district. Lately, a lot of politicians and state government officials have been visiting the village, and they say work on a nearly forgotten 14km irrigation canal is going to start soon.

It’s been nearly 36 years since the state government first proposed to dig the canal, recalls Azizur Haque, the local panchayat chief. It was to have brought enough water to irrigate some 5,000 acres of land, benefiting at least 30,000 farmers, he says. Yet, the canal didn’t materialize because the state’s environment department didn’t clear the proposal.

Click here To view a slideshow on problems faced by West Bengal farmers due to decreasing rainfall and government apathy

But thanks to one of their brethren, Karotia’s farmers might not have to wait much longer.

Jitu Bagdi, a farmer from this village, killed himself on 23 August. Hounded by moneylenders, he drank poison after his crop failed because of the drought, says his widow, Rupa Bagdi.

Since then, leaders from across political parties and state government officials are bending over backward to “do meaningful things” for Karotia’s farmers. Besides offering financial support to Rupa Bagdi to launch her own business, the state government has revived the abandoned irrigation canal project.

West Bengal is facing the worst rain shortage in many decades, and the state government has declared a drought in 11 out of 19 districts, including the highly productive ones in the southern part of the state such as Burdwan and Hooghly.

The crop loss has been estimated at Rs 6,250 crore, according to West Bengal’s finance minister Asim Dasgupta, and the people of the state have already begun feeling it—in Kolkata, the price of rice, the most widely consumed foodgrain, has already started rising as the state braces for a foodgrain deficit of 2.7 million tonnes (mt).

The drought, caused by a 32% shortfall in rain, has affected at least one-fifth of the state’s 5.2 million ha of cultivable land, and it shows that West Bengal’s Left Front government led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPM, that has ruled the state for 33 years, has done little to create irrigation facilities, say economists.

Even last year, there was some rain shortage, but it affected only around 200,000 ha.

“It is sad that for a state like West Bengal, where at least 60% of the population is dependent on agriculture, irrigation is not (the) top priority,” says Mihir Rakshit, a former professor of economics at the University of Calcutta. “It’s the same across the country despite so many droughts and crop failures—it’s really unfortunate.”

The state has allocated as little as Rs459 crore for its irrigation department in the current year. What makes matters worse is the fact that the state government doesn’t charge farmers for irrigation facilities such as pump sets and tubewells, which means the department on its own does not generate any revenue, according to a state government official, who did not want to be named.

“It’s not surprising therefore that even in this situation, only 5,938 state government-run minor irrigation facilities (pump sets and tubewells) are currently available,” he said. “We used to have around 6,000 such facilities in 1990. Now it’s fewer because at least 543 are out of commission for want of repair.”

The state government provides irrigation facilities to only around 339,000 ha of land, whereas private facilities serve another 1.3 million ha. The target was to bring at least 3.2 million ha of land in the state under irrigation, he added. “It would take years to get close to that target.”

Besides spending more on irrigation facilities, state governments should encourage research on dry farming and water management, says Rakshit.

West Bengal is now drawing up plans to support “alternative farming”, or cultivation of crops that require less water than paddy, according to Dasgupta. The state government promises to distribute seeds and train farmers, but “alternative farming” can only happen, if at all, next year.

Meanwhile, the state has sanctioned Rs354 crore for immediate relief measures, and has requested Rs600 crore more from the Centre.

The drought couldn’t have come at worse time for the CPM: it is facing an anti-incumbency wave, and assembly polls in the state are due next year.

The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) at the Centre isn’t supportive “for obvious reasons”, says CPM state secretariat member Robin Deb. The Trinamool Congress, the state’s main opposition party, which is a part of the UPA, isn’t pressuring the Centre either, according to Deb.

Subsidies are not long-term solutions, according to Abhirup Sarkar, a professor of economics at Kolkata’s Indian Statistical Institute. “Public investment is the need of the hour,” he said. “Agriculture has been neglected by the West Bengal government for at least 20 years, and that has led to a decline in agricultural productivity.”

The per capita production of foodgrains in West Bengal is 525gm, against the national average of 413gm, but because per capita purchasing power is very low in West Bengal, cases of starvation and poverty are widespread in the state, according to Sarkar.

At least two farmer suicides till now have been blamed on the drought, and both farmers were indebted to money lenders. People are forced to borrow at exorbitant rates because state cooperatives lend only around Rs7,400 per acre, whereas farmers say they need at least Rs45,000.

Banks are doing their bit by rescheduling loans for farmers affected. The country’s biggest lender, State Bank of India, is to defer by a year the repayment of at least Rs500 crore for the drought-hit farmers of West Bengal, according to Suriender Kumar, chief general manager of the bank for its West Bengal circle.

Agriculture Insurance Co. of India Ltd, which provides risk cover to farmers, expects claims from West Bengal this year to be at an all-time high, topping the Rs40 crore paid by it three years ago following floods. Delayed monsoons triggered claims of Rs18 crore last year, according to Dasarathi Singh, the regional general manager of the insurer.

This year, the situation is much worse. But will West Bengal face a famine? That’s the state administration’s biggest fear. It may be considering the fact that last year, when the rain shortfall affected only around 200,000 ha of cultivable land, the state could produce just 13.8 mt of foodgrains, and had nearly no surplus.

Manish Basu contributed to this story.

romita.d@livemint.com

Save cultivated crops: Buddhadeb

By Special Correspondent

The Hindu, August 22, 2010 

Chief Minister outlines three tasks, on a tour of drought-hit areas

West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, now on a tour of the State's drought-hit areas, has said that the prime task before the government was to save whatever crop had been sown in the 11 districts where cultivation had been badly affected by the errant monsoon. Protecting livelihoods was also very important, he said.

“Our first task now is to save whatever crop has already been cultivated by the farmers in these districts. We have talked to our people in charge of minor irrigation projects and also told people in the State power utilities that we must ensure that power supply remains intact so that minor irrigation facilities can be harnessed to save the little crop that the farmers have been able to cultivate.” The State has already sanctioned Rs. 50 crores towards the repair of existing deep tubewells and digging of new ones.

The Chief Minister, who commenced his tour of the drought-affected districts with Bardhaman, held meetings with district magistrates and panchayat functionaries from of the districts of Bardhaman, Birbhum, Bankura, Purulia and Hooghly.

He said that the second task was to take up early cropping of the winter crop rabi, in areas where sowing has been low. “Three types of alternate crops could be taken up. These were maize, oilseeds and dal (pulses),” he said.

A Central team of agro-scientists is to arrive shortly to conduct soil-tests and distribute seeds of alternate crops in the drought-hit districts. This followed a letter written by Mr. Bhattacharjee in this regard to the Union Agriculture Minister this week.

Mr. Bhattacharjee said that the third task was to create jobs under the 100 days' job scheme to protect the farmers' livelihoods. He said that while in Purulia only 6.5 per cent of the normal acreage has been cultivated, in the cases of two other arid districts – Birbhum and Bankura — the figure was around 33 per cent. The rains have been kinder to Hooghly and Bardhaman, where the deficiency was about 25 per cent. Of the 43 lakh hectares the State planned to cultivate during this season, cultivation on 11 lakh has become uncertain due to adverse weather condition, according to Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta.

Mr. Bhattacharjee was also scheduled to tour Nadia, another affected district where he would take stock of the neighbouring districts of Murshidabad and then Malda. On Sunday, he is slated to go to Purbo Medinipur, from where he will monitor Paschim Medinipur, and the two remaining districts of North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas.

West Bengal kharif paddy production expected to fall 16%

25 Aug, 2010, 06.11PM IST, PTI

NEW DELHI: Paddy production in drought- affected West Bengal is likely to fall by over 16 per cent during the current kharif season to 87 lakh tonnes.

The state produced 104 lakh tonnes of paddy in the last season. The state government has already announced drought in 11 districts (out of 19), including Burdwan, called as the rice bowl of the state, due to scanty rains in the ongoing monsoon season. "The production of paddy in the state is likely to be 17 lakh tonnes less than the last kharif season," West Bengal's agriculture minister Naren Dey told PTI over phone.

Dey said that sowing is also expected to come down to around 30 lakh hectares from 41.5 lakh hectares in the last kharif season. "Before the beginning of the current kharif season, we had targeted paddy sowing on 43.79 lakh hectares as against 41.5 lakh hectares of area in the last season. However, owing to scanty rains, paddy can be sown on around 30 lakh hectares only," Dey said.

West Bengal's rice produce has been estimated at around 149 lakh tonnes for 2009-10 crop season, ending June. The paddy-rice conversion rate is 67 per cent.

The truant monsoon has not only affected West Bengal, it has impacted rice sowing in other eastern states like Bihar and Jharkhand. The Bihar government has already announced all 38 districts as drought-affected while Jharkhand has declared drought in 12 districts out of 24.

The dip in output in West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand, however, would not have much impact on the country's overall paddy production in the ongoing kharif season as sowing area has increased in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh among other northern states. As per the latest data available, area under paddy has increased by seven per cent as on August 20 in the ongoing 2010-11 kharif sowing season to 29.75 million hectares on the back of a good monsoon. The higher area under paddy augurs well for the country, as rice output had declined by 10 million tonnes in the 2009- 10 crop year (July-June) due to the severe drought in 2009.

Delayed monsoon may hit paddy sowing in West Bengal

MUMBAI (Reuters),JUNE 23: Paddy sowing in West Bengal, India's largest rice producing state, may be affected following an over two-week lull in monsoon rains, and the preparation of seed-bed has been affected, a senior government official said.

"If it starts raining from tomorrow there will not be any problem...but if it does not rain in June at all then it will adversely affect the rain-fed seed-beds," S.D. Chatterjee, director in the state's farm department, told Reuters on Tuesday."The delay in rains has also impacted direct seeding," he added.

Paddy is usually first sown in a nursery or seed-bed and allowed to develop for about 21 to 24 days before transplanting it into the main field. Farmers in West Bengal also under take direct seeding, without growing it first in a nursery. "Sowing is not progressing well...It is time for preparing seed-bed but a delay in rains have impacted the process especially in south Bengal," Chatterjee said.

Early onset of monsoon in West Bengal had given a push to early sowing, but the monsoon's progress was subdued between June 7 to June 21, which has impacted seed-bed preparation. As per data from India Meteorological Department, in the period between June 1 to June 17 monsoon rains were more than 50 percent lower than normal in the state. As per the latest government figures, paddy has been sown in over 0.8 million hectares compared with 0.72 million hectares in the same period last year.

West Bengal leading In Agriculture

KOLKATA: In the manifesto released by the main opposition party of the West Bengal, the opposition has criticized the Left Front government on various achievements and laurels that it earned during its rule in the Last 32 Years. But nevertheless even the Trinamool has not been able to criticize the Left Front on one aspect.The long term effect of the success that West Bengal earned has forced critics to admit the rejuvenation of the agriculture in the state.

In 1977 at the time when the Left Front assumed the charge, the agricultural production was fast dwindling .West Bengal at that time was heavily dependent on the other states for food grains. But after 32years West Bengal is now the numero uno in terms of rice production, and in many other food grains. This achievement has been possible as West Bengal’s Left Front government embarked on land reform programme in the state resulting in agrarian benefits reaching to the poorest of the poor.The total agricultural land distributed in this State (upto 15th January, 2009) is 11.26 lakh acres and the number of poor farmers benefited from this distribution has now reached 30lakh. Of these benefited farmers, nearly 55 per cent belong to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes—an achievement which has not been possible in any other State in the country.

With the objective of empowering women in terms of distribution of land, the number of joint-pattas has now reached 6.04 lakh, and that of female pattas 1.61 lakh. In no other State, there been such progress in the distribution of pattas in favour of women. As a result of according priority to extension of irrigation facilities, the total net irrigated area as a proportion of the total net agricultural area in the State has increased steadily from 32 per cent in 1977-78 to nearly 72 per cent in 2008-09. In regard to the use of improved seeds, particularly in the case of production of paddy, while in the year 1977-78, only 28 per cent of the cultivated area of the State was covered under improved seeds, in 2008-09, the coverage has reached 97 per cent. The rate of growth of Net State Domestic Product of West Bengal from agriculture and allied activities in the current year (2008-09) will increase by 4.4 per cent, which is much higher than the corresponding rate of growth of 2.6 per cent of Gross Domestic Product of India from agriculture and allied activities. The estimated total production of rice in the State will increase from 147.19 lakh metric tonne in the last year to 155.33 lakh metric tonne in the current year which would be much higher than the State’s requirement of rice of 137.62 lakh metric tonne.

Due to adverse effect of “blight” disease, the production of potato in the State will fall from the last year’s level of 99.0 lakh metric tonne to 58.62 lakh metric tone in the current year it is anticipated .However, production of potato in the State in the current year will still be higher than the State’s internal requirement of 54 lakh metric tonne, and the position of West Bengal in potato production will again remain in the second place among all the States in the country. In the sphere of vegetables, the total production in the State will reach 128.04 lakh metric tonne in the current year ,and the State’s rank will once again be first among the States. In the current year, the levels of production of wheat, pulses and oilseeds are estimated to increase to the levels of 9.75 lakh metric tonne, 1.89 lakh metric tonne and 7.48 lakh metric tonne respectively, and as a result, the total production of food grains in the State (including rice, wheat, pulses and other crops) will increase to the level of 170.19 lakh metric tonne in the current year which would be very close to the State’s self-sufficiency requirement of 170.80 lakh metric tonne.

The state government is emphasizing on modernization of agriculture. Agriculture Commission has recently submitted its report with this goal in mind.. This enhancement of self-reliant and improved process of agricultural production will also help to increase generation of employment and income as well as internal market, and add a new dimension to our efforts at overcoming the recession.64 bio-villages have already been set up in the State. Decision has been taken, as a part of State-level package against recession to extend this effort further by setting up in each block one bio-village, one seed village and one soil testing laboratory, and taking special steps to improve productivity in North Bengal, Paschimanchal and the Sunderbans.

Even the planned outlay of the concerned department has increased from Rs. 89.99 crore in the current year (2008-09) to Rs. 178.14 crore in the next year. Source West Bengal Budget (2009-2010)Though the whole country has been plagued by cases of farmer suicides this is a rare phenomenon in West Bengal. This had been possible as West Bengal Left Front government has also taken proactive steps in making crop insurance for the marginal farmers of the state. In the 2008-09 ,Economic survey it has been reported that in West Bengal only, in the Rabi season of 2007-08 over 5lakh 96 thousands farmers of the state has been covered under crop insurance out of which about 5 lakh 93 thousand are farmers hailing from marginal sections of the society.

The scheme of crop insurance was started by the West Bengal government in the year 2002-2003 The state government infact had took the responsibility of protecting the farmers in terms of Two of the major crops i.e. the Aman and Boro seasonal crops. In the year 2007-2008 more 2 lakh 73 hectors of the state had been brought under the crop insurance. The total amount of insurance in that same period was more than 764 crore 39lakhs. Over 50% of the subsidy under this scheme has been provided by the state government. In the Khariff season more than 3 lakh 13 thousand farmers had been covered under the crop insurance scheme in the state out of which a staggering amount of 3 lakh 12 thousand hails from marginal background.

More importantly this success has been attained in west Bengal due to the Left Front government policy initiative of taking along the gram Panchayets while implementing the decisions. By empowering the gram Panchayets the state has attained this success as the whole programme has been carried out through the Panchayets. Both the cash crops and the food crops had been covered under this insurance scheme.

This has also prevented the farmers of the state from going pauper overnight by depending on the climatic conditions excessively. The affected farmers were also identified with the help of the Panchayets and the state government took the responsibility of admitting the insurance claim in case of disasters.

By SANDIP

Potato yield to suffer 20-22 percent in West Bengal

Kolkata, Feb 11: Wheat production in the country during the current year is likely to be 78 million tonnes, the output recorded last year, after rains resumed in north India, but potato production may suffer by 20 per cent.Stating this at a CII-sponsored seminar on agri-business, the Secretary to the Department of Agriculture&Cooperation, T Nand Kumar, pointed out that in January the temperature in Punjab was higher by 2-3 degrees, but the rains in the past few days were a big boost.

A long dry spell coupled with rising temperatures in January had raised concerns over falling wheat yields in Punjab and Harayana which account for more than 90 per cent of the wheat bought by the government.

Last year, the country had bumper wheat production and higher production this year may encourage the government to consider wheat exports as it already has more than adequate stocks. The potato production in West Bengal is expected to be lower by 20-22 per cent due to late-blight disease, state agriculture minister Naren De said.

The western disturbance has prevented temperature to dip further and temperature was 2-3 degree higher than normal. De also said the state was attempting to replace 20 per cent of chemical based fertiliser to bio-fertiliser during the 11th plan period.

West Bengal plans kisan cards to widen rural reach

Kolkata, October 24: To bring in more farmers under the credit net of the mainstream banking system, the the West Bengal agriculture department is planning to push banks to issue 15 lakh kisan credit cards (KCCs) by 2012. The department has taken up the issue at the state-level bankers’ committee (SLBC) meeting. “By 2012, we should have at least 30 lakh Kisan credit cards from the present 15 lakh,” said Sanjeev Chopra, agriculture secretary, West Bengal. Of an approximate 68 lakh people having operational holdings, 70% are small and marginal farmers.

“The ratio of corpus to bank finance is 1.13 only, which indicates under-financing by banks,” said a top official in the state finance department. The requirement of farmer’s credit in West Bengal is about Rs 15,000 crore according to estimates by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard). While the state government eyed a disbursal of Rs 5,000 crore of rural credit this fiscal, the formal banking structure in the state could disburse only a little more than Rs 3,000 crore.

“We are talking to several banks including cooperative banks to forge a way out,” said Sanjeev Chopra. “Increasing the number of kisan credit cards will bring more people under the mainstream credit net,” he said. “The banks have infrastructure constraints and we are ready to lend our manpower to the banks for KCCs,” he said. The department is even ready to offer special incentives to the banks against KCC accounts.

According to sources, out of 3,354 gram panchayats (GPs) in West Bengal, about one-third do not have any bank branch. A task force formed by the SLBC has identified about 200 GPs for establishing banking facilities. “We have given targets to our principal agricultural officers and they have been asked to at least double it by the this five-year plan,” Chopra said. The department is planning to creatre three to five lakh new KCC accounts every year to achieve the target.

West Bengal gets first Centre for Perishable Cargo

Kolkata, West Bengal, India, 2008-09-27, 01:45:03 (IndiaPRwire.com):

West Bengal Friday got its first Centre for Perishable Cargo (CPC) at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport here. It was inaugurated by Minister of State for Commerce, Industry and Power Jairam Ramesh.

The CPC has an annual storage capacity of 12,000 million tonnes, 10 times higher than the present export of perishable goods from the Kolkata airport.

'Its installed capacity should be utilised to the maximum potential,' Ramesh told reporters on the occasion.

The 742.5 square metres CPC, built and operationalised with a 100 percent grant-in-aid of Rs.67.5 million by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) of the commerce ministry, was under trial operation from June 2008.

Kolkata being the gateway for exports to Southeast Asia, the commissioning of this CPC would prove beneficial for West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand and all the northeast states.

At present, seasonal fruits, vegetables and chilled fish of perishable category are exported from Kolkata by air.

West Bengal's second CPC is under construction at Bagdogra and will be operational by March 2009, Ramesh said.

APEDA would also finance a Rs.55 million Export Cargo Complex at Haldia. It would be constructed within one year after the state government selected a contractor for the project, Ramesh added.
Indo Asian News Service