Fleeced by Commission Agents, Apple Farmers to Protest in HP

New Delhi: Apple farmers in Himachal Pradesh are gearing up for a big protest against the state government on September 24 in Narkanda. The farmers, who are already undergoing a bleak crop season because of inclement weather and government apathy, have been facing issues with ‘commission agents’ involved in selling their produce in the market.

Apple is one of the most important cash crops in Himachal Pradesh. It takes up almost 49% of the total area under fruit crops in the state, making for 85% of its total fruit production. Nearly four lakh families are involved in the estimated Rs 4,500 crore apple economy of Himachal Pradesh. Despite being an important source of the state’s economy, apple farmers have been facing problems with fake traders, commission agents and truckers with false number plates, who dupe the farmers.

In the recently concluded monsoon Assembly session in August, CPI(M) MLA from Theog, Rakesh Singha, had raised the issue of  commission agents cheating thousands of farmers in the apple markets of Narkanda, Parala (Theog) and Bhattakuffar, among others. It was also reported that a few farmers, fleeced by the commission agents in the Narkanda apple market, had complained to Agriculture Minister  Ram Lal Markanda, but the situation has remained the same.

Commission Agents= Fraudsters?

Farmers say they are being duped by the commission agents who procure the fruit from them and then sell it in the market. According to the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act 2005, no farmer can be charged more than Rs 5 per carton of apples by the commission agents, but in reality, the commission agents are charging up to Rs 10-35 from the farmers .

The Act also states that commission agents have to pay the total amount of the produce sold on the same day they buy the produce from the farmers. Several incidents have been reported by different apple growers where they have not been paid for months and sometimes even years on end by the commission agents. One such incident had also gone viral on social media where a local woman is seen beating the commission agent in the mandi (market) over non-payment for her produce.

Call for Protest

Meanwhile, the state committee of the Himachal Kisan Sabha has extended support to the struggle of the apple farmers who have organised themselves under the banner of Kisan Sangharsh Samiti.

In a press conference organised by the Himachal Kisan Sabha on September 20, in Shimla, CPI(M) MLA Rakesh Singha appealed to the  apple farmers of Karsog, Kinnaur, Anni, Nirmand, Rampur, Nankhari, Baggi, Naur Tikkar, Kotgarh, Kumarsain, Matiana, Theog and Shilaru to reach Narkanda on September 24, from where the movement against their exploitation by the commission agents would be launched.

He further said, “In a joint meeting held on September 17 at Narkanda in the presence of the SDM of Theog, Secretary of the APMC, Deputy Director Agriculture and other officers, various farmers’ organisations made serious efforts to discipline the commission agents and make them abide by the rules made under the Himachal Pradesh Agricultural and Horticultural Produce Marketing (Development and Regulation) Act, 2005. It is unfortunate that the commission agents expressed inability to implement the rules and refund the illegal deductions to the farmers. As per the provisions of the Act, the vegetables and fruits of a farmer are required to be sold by weight in a regulated market, which they are not doing as far as fruits are concerned. However, when a consumer purchases fruits from the market, it is purchased by weight. The commission agents are allowed a deduction of only Rs. 5 per box for unloading the produce sold by the farmer, but huge deductions are being made to the extent of Rs. 30 per box.”

The Kisan Sabha is demanding that the commission agents must refund the illegal deductions to the farmers and that the APMC must insure that the rules and regulations are abided by the commission agents failing which the government would be held responsible for giving a free hand to the exploiters.

The Kisan Sabha also termed the Centre’s slogan  of doubling farmers’ income by 2022 as ‘imaginary’. “It is a mere slogan to keep the farmers under illusion. It is a slogan no different from the slogan of getting back black money from the Swiss bank and depositing Rs. 15 lakh in the bank accounts of every Indian citizen. Such hollow slogans are being given at a time when the country is passing through the worst agrarian crisis after independence. The input costs for all agriculture produce have increased many fold and output price is stagnant, and for many commodities it is even declining. The price of diesel and petrol have increased by many fold in the last four years which are essential for agriculture cultivation and also for transportation of the produce of the farmer,” said Singha at a press conference.

He further said the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana and the Weather Based Crop insurance scheme was a ‘fraud’ on the farmers and was merely a scheme to fill the coffers of the corporate insurance companies under the garb of providing insurance cover to farmers.

Singha said the import duty hike on apple was also a gimmick. “Having made a premature declaration of enhancing the import duty on apple has gone in the advantage of the traders. There has been a massive crash in the apple prices going to the disadvantage of the farmers,” he concluded.

The Himachal Kisan sabha has further urged the government not to appease the commission agents as the farmers were being forced to go in for distress sale at a time when apple production has been less than two crore of boxes.