When farmers don't get what they deserve

By Staff Reporter, GUWAHATI, Jan 31: Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi is often heard harping eloquently on agricultural reforms and his government's commitment to the development of agriculture in the State. However, a reality check tells a different story.

More often than not, farmers in Assam have to sell off their agricultural produce at rock-bottom prices. Despite a good harvest, these farmers cannot make a profit. Middlemen are exploiting these farmers by buying their agricultural produce at a cheap rate and selling them off at a higher price, thus making a sizeable profit.

The dire straits that the farmers find themselves in is largely due to the lack of sufficient cold storage facilities in the State. In the absence of adequate cold storage facilities, farmers are compelled to sell off their produce at whatever price is offered to them lest the produce should perish.

Surprisingly, the government has not given due importance to setting up adequate cold storage facilities. This is evident from the fact that despite being a State with an economy heavily dependent on agriculture, Assam, surprisingly, has only 26 cold storage facilities. And only three out of these cold storage facilities have been set up by the government while the remaining belong to the private sector.

These three cold rooms are located at Singimari, Byrnihat and Gossaigaon. The remaining cold rooms are located at Silchar (2), Changsari (1), Guwahati (2), Patgaon, Azara (2), Jinjia (1), Tinsukia (2), Makum Road (1), Laipuli (1), Badarpur Ghat (1), Hailakandi (1), Dergaon (1), Jorhat (2), Nagaon (2), Bapujinagar, Goalpara (1), Barpeta (1), Kajalgaon, Chirang (1) and Tezpur (1).

It is also astonishing that the Kharupetia and Dolgaon areas boast of good harvest of vegetables. But the idea of setting up ample cold storage facilities in these areas to prevent vegetables from decaying has not crossed the mind of the government or the private sector. Farmers of these areas are often seen protesting against this by throwing their vegetables on roads.

Since 2001, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has been laying thrust on agricultural development. In such a situation, one fails to understand why the Agriculture Department has not opened its eyes to these grim realities. Sooner the better, for our hard-working farming community.

 

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