FALL IN PRICE OF YIELD HITS RURAL HOUSEHOLDS HARD

Friday, 12 May 2017 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in Bhubaneswar

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Collection of mahua flowers has ended this year. The yield was better compared to last year but far low than the yield people got in the previous year. “That was the peak year,” says Budhuram Paharia of Bhainsadani village, referring to the yield he got two years ago. He had earned Rs 10,000 then whereas the earning last year was only Rs 500 which increased to Rs 1,500 in the current season.

The price of mahua last year started with Rs  20 a kg and increased up to Rs  28 in the last phase, which made people think that the price would be fair this year; but unfortunately, it plummeted to Rs 14 after an initial high of Rs 25.

Jagabandhu Majhi of Karandaba village in Khariar block had earned Rs 55,000 from 26 quintals of mahua flower last year; but this year, it would be less than Rs 20,000 although the collection is a little bit more. He sold about 5 quintals in the beginning at Rs 22 a kg, and stocked the rest expecting an increase in the price. “Last year, the price maintained high at Rs 25; so, I deferred selling this year; but the price fell to  Rs  12. We will face huge loss,” says Jagabandhu.

Karandaba village has 25 households and is surrounded by forest with a large number of mahua trees. The total collection of mahua in the village every year exceeds 250 quintals. However, the income this year would drastically reduce due to a sharp fall in price.

Panchayati Raj Institutions have been empowered to fix prices of different NTFPs. The price was fixed by five panchayat samities of

Nuapada district in 2015 separately and that remained between Rs  22 and Rs  24. It has not been revised since then. Furthermore, there is no mechanism to ensure this price. For NTFP activities, the official year starts from October and ends in September. Thus the price fixation committee should sit before October to set the price.

“Forest officials have the expertise in price fixation, but they never attend the meeting,” said an official of the Khariar Panchayat Samiti. “The Forest Department was getting royalty from mahua before the NTFP was handed over to panchayats. Now, the department is not taking interest as they are not benefiting in the present system,” added the official.

The panchayats have the power to issue the permit for mahua business and take Rs 100 for each permit. Records of different panchayats reveal that the permits issued are limited to four to five in each case. “Traders never come to the panchayat voluntarily, and we don’t have any mechanism to control their activities,” says the EO of Boden panchayat.

The Excise Department has the control over storage and transport of mahua flowers. They issue storage and transport permit to the traders and breweries (Bhattis). Storage permits have been issued to 11 traders and 21 Bhattis in the district. There are four slabs of permit starting from 500 to 1000 quintals and ending at the slab of more than 5,000 quintals.

In case of Bhatti, the slabs are allowed on the basis of their minimum guarantee quota (MGQ). However, the actual storage always exceeds from the official permission given. For example, the permission given to the Bhatti at Khariar is about 4,000 quintals, but the actual requirement of the Bhatti is more than 20,000 quintals per year.

The total storage permission accorded in the district by the Excise Department would be more than 100 thousand quintals (10 thousand MT) for the current year, but the actual figure of transaction all together (traders and breweries) would be more than 300 thousand quintals, a business of more than Rs 50 crore. This calculation is corroborated with facts provided by a brewery owner, who has seven breweries and invested around Rs  8 crore for purchase of mahua last year.

The Excise Department can carry search operation to detect excess storage. But there is no coordination between the Panchayati Raj and Excise Departments. The Forest Rights Committees formed in the villages have also no role to play in collection and trade of mahua.

Excise officials say prices of mahua and other NTFPs in most part of western Odisha are controlled by the traders of Raipur. “In Chhattisgarh, the tax departments have raided the NTFP traders this year, which is the main cause of the drop in price,” they say.

But the traders here do not buy this argument. “The Excise Department is playing the trick. They delayed issuing the storage permit to us although we applied for that in the beginning of April,” complain the traders of Boden block. They argue that excise officials have given permission to the Bhattis and restricted the traders from procurement to benefit the former. “As the traders are not buying mahua, the Bhattis are monopolising the procurement as well price and they are forcing the mahua collectors to sell the produce at a lower rate,” the traders add.

In spite of this unstable situation, mahua is one of the major sources of earning for the people of this district. It helps landless and small and marginal farmers buy rice for three to six months. A host of other expenses like marriage, various other social obligations, cost of medicines, etc., are met with earning from mahua and other minor forest produces. A reduction in price or yield thus creates havoc for the rural households.

“There is no data with the Government on production of mahua and chahar after the produces were handed over to the panchayats; so, it is difficult to say exactly what the total reduction in yield is and its impact on people.

But it can be said that the economy of a forest dweller is highly affected due to forest drought,” says retired professor and social worker Fanindam Deo. He says that the financial condition of a landless person with 20 mahua trees is much better than the condition of a farmer with four to seven acres of land. “The policy and programmes of the Government are paddy-centric; it has to change,” he opines.