Contract Farming, Microfinance Pose Threat to West Bengal Farmers: AIKS

Contract farming and the debt web of microfinance institutions are posing a serious threat to the farmers in West Bengal, according to discussions held by the delegates in the 37th conference of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) West Bengal unit.

In Burdwan’s Jamalpur area, acres after acres of land have been leased out to PepsiCo for potato cultivation despite the company not taking responsibility for the loss of crops due to natural reasons. The low price of potatoes in the state markets has led to farmers leasing out their lands to Pepsi on contracts that are believed to be hurting their interests. PepsiCo has taken large tracts of land under contract farming in the state, mainly in Burdwan and Hooghly districts.

At the AIKS conference, there was palpable anger against the Trinamool Congress (TMC)-led West Bengal government for not providing Minimum Support Price (MSP) for agrarian commodities. The delegates also alleged close connections between TMC-associated people turned middlemen of agrarian commodities who are purportedly reaping benefits at the cost of the state’s farmers.

Farmers Have No Way Out

The delegates, in different sessions of the AIKS conference, also noted that in the 218 farm suicides that has taken place in the state, most of the farmers had taken up contract farming and after loss of crop, they had resorted to suicide. 

In Burdwan, which is known as the bread basket of Bengal, 20% of Boro rice and 10% Aman rice cultivation are currently under contract farming, the speakers informed in the conference. 

Furthermore, during contract farming, the farmer does not get government help if crops are destroyed and they are forced to enter “Abhimanyu’s chakrabuyho” not knowing the way out, they said.  

Microfinance Bleeding Farmers

The delegates stressed on issues like microfinance institutions, such as Bandhan Bank and Ujjiban, spreading their net in the state. They first provide loans to the desperate farmers but charge abnormally high rate of interest, which many are unable to pay and they end up getting harassed, the delegates said. Many farmers have committed suicide entangled in the web of microfinance, they claimed . 

BLRO or Block Land Revenue Office is a hotbed of corruption, many alleged in the conference. Schemes like ‘Krishak Bandhu’, where government aid is given to farmers, were not reaching the original tillers as many of the original owners of the lands employ share croppers to work their lands. In many cases, even farmers do not know that the parcha or the land documents recorded in their names are getting transferred to other names at the BLRO offices, the delegates claimed.

The delegates of Darjeeling district presented an example of administrative corruption whereby the district has the total capacity of growing only 40,000 metric tons of paddy, but the according to the state government, more than 89,000 metric tons of paddy has been purchased from the farmers. According to the delegates, the rest of the paddy came through corrupt means as rich farmers from neighbouring Bihar sold their produces to the government.

Role of AIKS

The conference was inaugurated by AIKS general secretary Hannan Mollah and addressed by P Krishna Prasad from the central leadership of the farmers’ organisation. 

In their speeches, the leadership called on farmers in the state to emulate the farmers’ struggles in Maharashtra, Delhi border and other places. In all these movements, AIKS has played a definitive role. The organisations also said that such struggles should take place in unison with the agricultural labourers and unorganised sector workers. The AIKS also gave a call to the Krishak Sabha units in every village, unfolding their roadmap for expansion in the coming days.

At the conference, Amal Halder was re-elected as the general secretary of the AIKS West Bengal unit while Biplab Majumdar was elected as the new state president. A total of 392 delegates and 36 observers were present at the conference.