“It was his last harvest,” said Ramesh, referring to his relative Prithviraj Berwa, who died by suicide last week after his crop was damaged in Rajasthan’s Bundi district – in untimely rain which lashed north India over the last few days.
The 60-year-old farmer, from the Berwa scheduled caste, cultivated wheat on three bighas of land in Majar village. “Last month he sold this land too, to repay the debt. But all his crops got damaged which might have made him depressed,” Ramesh told Newslaundry at a gathering at Prithviraj’s residence, three days after his death.
There has been severe agricultural damage due to heavy rain in parts of Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh over the last few days. Wheat is a major rabi crop in north India where harvesting is underway in several areas. However, state governments are yet to complete surveys to ascertain the losses. The central government earlier said there has been some damage to the rabi crops but that it was waiting for reports from the states.
Located around 250 kilometres from Rajasthan’s capital Jaipur, Bundi is predominantly a farming district, with nearly 80 percent of its 11 lakh population in rural areas. And many of the farmers in the district cultivate wheat – the state accounts for over seven percent of India’s wheat production.
“The pattern of the rainfall was such that it damaged a stretch of a field in an area but there is no damage in the adjoining area,” a senior district official said, adding that this has made things difficult for the government to get precise data. “This is why we are focusing on individual assessment. The survey is on.”
‘He lost everything’
According to Prithviraj’s family, debt has been mounting over the last two decades, and the untimely rain has only exacerbated the problem. They family said they took loans to sustain farming and meet expenses such as those pertaining to the weddings of the farmer’s sons and daughter.
“To clear the debt, we used to do share-cropping on others’ land by taking Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh loans. But the untimely rain has been damaging our crops for the last three years. So the cycle of debt has only been increasing,” Manish told Newslaundry.
“This time, too, we were planning to repay some debt from this rabi harvest. But the crops were damaged this year as well,” he said. “Seeing the crops damaged, he got tensed and took the final step…It was around 11 am when he went out to see the condition of crops. When he saw the damaged crop, he consumed the insecticide.”
Prithviraj’s sons Manish and Ram Narayan, who earn Rs 300 a day as daily wagers on ordinary days, now stare at a debt of Rs 8 lakh. The family had recently sold their agricultural land for Rs 20 lakh and planned to repay a portion of it through the rabi crop.
Other farmers in the district have similar woes.
“This has been going on for almost the last three years. Our kharif cultivation was not bad, but the untimely rain damaged all the rabi crops,” Shivra Suman, a farmer in Bundi’s Dhanatree village, told Newslaundry.
Located just 5 kilometres from Majar village, Dhanatree appears to be among the worst-affected in Bundi with farmers claiming to have lost around 40 percent of their crops.
Suman had taken 10 bighas of land in “jhuwara” – a local term for share-cropping – for Rs 1.5 lakh and spent additional amounts in seeds, pesticides and farming equipment. “Now I am left with nothing, all my money washed away by the rain,” he told Newslaundry, pointing to the field where he cultivated wheat this year.
Farmers growing vegetables such as ladyfinger, tomato and chickpea have also incurred heavy losses.
“You can see all wheat crops turned black…water is still in the fields…there will be very less production this year. I believe at least half of the crops have been damaged,” said KL Saini, a farmer at Dhanatree.
No crop insurance
Most of the farmers Newslaundry met in Bundi maintained that they either have no crop insurance or are not aware of it.
“For insurance, we have to give money, right? When we borrow money for cultivation, how will we pay for insurance,” asked Mahendra Kumar, Prithviraj’s neighbour.
However, KL Saini said farmers are not even aware of insurance. “Whenever a farmer takes a KCC loan, they get crop insurance as well, the premium of which is included in the loan itself. But farmers are not aware and don’t even have documents for the same.”
Additionally, a large number of farmers have been left out of crop insurance schemes because of non-ownership of their cultivated land. “In every panchayat, at least 30 to 40 percent of the land is government-owned where farmers pay an amount to the government. However, none of these farmers have land rights. Because of this, these farmers can’t take any loan or get insurance schemes,” Sandeep Purohit, a local leader of Sanyukta Kishan Morcha, told Newslaundry.
Assistant district magistrate Mukesh Chaudhury admitted that there is a lack of awareness about the Pradhanmantri Fasal Bima Yojna among farmers. Launched in 2016, PMFBY is a crop insurance service with a reduced premium burden on farmers.
“Most farmers were deprived of the insurance benefits because they failed to inform the insurance companies about their loss on time. Farmers are required to inform about their loss within 72 hours. But sometimes, insurance companies don’t pick up their calls leading to delays,” Chaudhury told Newslaundry. “This is why we bind insurance companies to respond immediately from time to time.”
According to the district administration, they have received over 23,000 PMFBY claims this year till March 20. Of these, over 18,000 claims have been surveyed. “For those who are not covered under any insurance, the government is surveying to assess their loss. Under this, the villages where 33 percent or higher percentage of crops are damaged will be eligible for government compensation,” Chaudhury said.
Dip in quality, low prices
Meanwhile, deterioration in the quality of wheat grain after the rain is another major concern among farmers, with a significant drop in prices for the harvest after the rain.
“In the case of wheat crops that were flattened by the rain and hailstorm, the yield from these crops would be less as it has broken. Even those that are not flattened and still standing, the grain would lose its glow, leading to quality deterioration and low price,” said Purohit.
Newslaundry visited the agricultural market in Bundi to notice a nearly Rs 500 drop in the price for every quintal of wheat harvested after the rain.
“All grains that have been harvested after the rains are of low quality,” Deepak Budhwani, a trader at the district market, told Newslaundry. Showing the quality of grains harvested before the rain, he said, “This quality of wheat grain is still selling at Rs 2,600 per quintal, above the minimum support price of Rs 2,250 per quintal. However, none of the wheat grains harvested after the rain got above Rs 2,000 per quintal.”
This is a double whammy for farmers. “Apart from the quality, the production has also been impacted. I harvested 9 quintals per bigha last year. This year, I got late and harvested after the rain stopped, but my production has decreased to 7 quintals per bigha. This is a double loss,” Rajendra Jain, a farmer from Ajeta village, told Newslaundry at the mandi.
ML Jaat, a secretary at the market, said the lowest price for wheat on Wednesday was around Rs 1,900 per quintal. “The quality of the grain harvested after the rain has deteriorated. But control of price is not in our hands. I have requested the Food Corporation of India to adjust their quality parameters so that farmers don't lose out.”
Meanwhile, the district administration is conducting surveys to assess crop loss across Bundi. “Regarding the quality issue faced by the farmers, we provide relief to the farmers every year. We will definitely give some relief this year, too,” said AGM Mukesh Chaudhury.
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