Date:12/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/12/stories/2008101257860500.htm

Tamil Nadu

Input costs up, yields remain the same

There needs to be minimum support price so that farmers are insulated against rising prices

— Photo: R. Ashok

Green touch: Sukumar and his wife Shanthi tending to banana plants on their farm at Esanakorai village in Tiruchi district.

On one side of the equation lie higher input costs, rising wages and increasing expenditure. On the other side: inadequate income, despite a good kuruvai paddy harvest, and lack of a better price for the produce. The result: the economic survival of those responsible for the food security of the urban millions is unsure.

Farmers say that the State government’s offer of Rs.1,000/1,050 a quintal for common and fine varieties of paddy this year has not compensated for the inflation in prices.

“The increase in procurement price, though welcome, is still not based on the production costs and the profit margin recommended by the M.S. Swaminathan Commission. We need at least Rs.1,500 a quintal for paddy to make a reasonable profit,” says N.Veerasekaran, a farmer of Lalgudi.

Arupadi Kalyanam, General Secretary, Federation of Farmers Welfare Association (Cauvery Region) concurs, “We should have a minimum support price (MSP) that increases proportionally as the price-index increases so that farmers are insulated against rising prices.”

Rising costs

Farmers in Lalgudi and other parts of Tiruchi district say that the cost of raising paddy in an acre has gone up by about Rs.1,500 to Rs. 2,000, because of the rise in the prices of fertilizers (other than di-ammonium phosphate and urea), pesticides and wages.

For a typical medium farmer such as A. Sukumar (40) of Esanakorai near Lalgudi, the income does not match the increasing expenditure. He says that it cost him Rs.10,000 an acre to raise paddy in about 2.25 acres during the kuruvai season. Last year the expense was just around Rs. 8,000. He has also grown banana in two acres and says that the cost of cultivation of the cash crop has gone up to Rs. 45,000 to Rs. 50,000 an acre, against Rs. 40,000 last year.

“Fertiliser costs have not only increased, sometimes they are not available. Fuel prices and cost of other goods have also increased. Although, all this is reflected in increased prices for urban consumers, the farmer gets only a fraction of the profits,” says C. G. Kanagasundaram, Panchayat President, Thiruppondi (East), Nagapattinam district.

Rising labour costs is another major concern. “I do most of work myself so as to save on the labour costs,” says Mr. Sukumar. The family employs an elderly man as a farm hand and has to pay him Rs.1,000 a month, irrespective of whether there is any work or not.

Mr.Veerasekaran says that the wages (given in the form of paddy) has gone up tremendously. “For harvesting an acre of paddy, we have to give paddy worth about Rs. 3,500. Last year, it worked around to about Rs. 2,500 to 2,800 an acre,” he says.

Agricultural labourers justify their demand saying that the price rise has impacted them too. “I need at least Rs.120 to Rs. 150 a day to feed my family of six,” says Vembu, a labourer, at Velayuthapuram, who gets work for three days a week under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Many small and marginal farmers have opted to leave their lands fallow or lease them out and have become labourers. Thangam, who owns less than an acre near Lalgudi, has opted to give his land on lease to a big farmer as he could not manage the capital costs and now works as a farm hand.

Despite making a profit because of a good paddy harvest Mr. Sukumar says it cannot compensate his rising expenditure. “Cooking oil alone costs us Rs.300 a month now. There seems to be no relief from the rising prices,” rues his wife, Shanthi, who manages the cattle. “I have to set apart at least Rs.100 a day for family expenses, though we use the rice from our own fields and get milk from our own cattle,” says Mr. Sukumar, who owns more than four acres of land.

“Though input costs have gone up, there is no corresponding rise in prices,” says Venkatesh Athreya, Advisor, Food Security, MSSRF. The larger issue is lack of public investment in agriculture, because of which productivity has been stagnating. When yields remain the same, and input costs go up, there is a problem, he points out.