The Hindu Business Line : Bengal not to allow contract farming

The Minister said that the hidden agenda of contract farming, as proposed by private entrepreneurs, was to squeeze the land-holding rights of farmers and also to restrict their flexibility in selecting crops which can be grown in their land, based on market demand.

Addressing members of the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BNCCI), Mr Guha cited specific examples of jute cultivation and tea plantation. Landowners, at one time, switched over from paddy to jute cultivation and tea plantation. The growers of jute and tea were now facing bad times because of the poor state of affairs in the two industries. The problem is that now these farmers cannot switch back to paddy or other cash crops easily. Mr Guha asked tea and jute industrialists to modernize and diversify so as to protect the interest of the farmers involved.

The Minister said the State would oppose any move on the part of the Union Government to lift controls over jute industry. On the contrary, he urged the Centre to prepare special packages for jute and tea industries. He reminded that about 40 lakh jute growers in the State were directly affected due to restricted offtake of raw jute at unremunerative prices by the mill owners.

Clarifying that the State Agriculture Department was well aware of the State's future demand of cereal, vegetables and cash crops, he said it was actively on the job of identifying fallow and degraded land, to be converted for cultivation purposes. Cultivation of cash crops such as pulses, oilseeds and cotton would be encouraged. As per recent report of soil in 18 districts of the State, he said that cotton could be grown at North Bengal and Sundarban areas.

The chamber President, Mr S.K. Chakraborty, suggested that the state government should persuade banks, commercial co-operatives and other financial institutions to extend more credit to the farmers to stop them from resorting to non-institutional sources of credit at higher interest rates.

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