Kerala BJP urges Centre to restore paddy bonus

BJP Kerala chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar on mon wrote to unification finance government minister Nirmala Sitharaman, requesting the exclusion of the southern say from its way to the State government to discontinue the additional bonus given to paddy farmers.“The state government has failed to provide timely and adequate financial support to paddy farmers. As a result, many farmers are compelled to depend on private moneylenders to meet cultivation expenses, leading to increased indebtedness and severe financial stress,” he said.This comes a day after Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan slammed the Union government for suggesting discontinuing the bonus given by the State over and above the minimum support price (MSP) to paddy farmers, saying it was tantamount to issuing a challenge to farmers.On January 9, the Centre had written to Kerala chief secretary asking the state to review its policy on paddy bonus, by stating that rice stocks had exceeded the requirement for the Public Distribution System (PDS). The continuation of the payment of the bonus would create a significant and recurring burden on the public exchequer, the letter had claimed.However, Chandrasekhar claimed that the issues cited in the Union finance ministry’s communication such as surplus production, excess central stocks and groundwater depletion are “technically and substantively inapplicable to Kerala’s agricultural realities.”“Paddy procurement in Kerala operates under a distinct framework shaped by unique agro-climactic conditions, small landholdings, declining production levels and the objective of sustaining cultivation primarily for food security rather than surplus generation,” the BJP leader said in the letter, asking for the State to be considered separately in view of its specific agricultural and food security considerations.Kerala has witnessed a long-term decline in paddy acreage and production over the decades and is not a surplus-producing state contributing to excess central stocks, he argued.Though the BJP state president alleged that the State government has not announced any additional bonus over and above the MSP, the Kerala CM on Sunday had underlined that it was procuring paddy from the farmers by paying an additional ₹6.31 per kilogram. The Union government provides ₹23.69 per kilogram for paddy procurement. Vijayan had also expressed apprehension that the Centre’s directive was the first step towards opening the market to American agricultural products as part of an Indo-US trade agreement.The BJP chief’s letter highlights the uneasiness within the state BJP unit and among workers about the possibility of backlash from farmers, especially with the upcoming elections in Kerala.In 2023-24, rice constituted 7.1% of the total cropped area in the state. Figures in 2023 showed that the area under paddy cultivation shrunk by 39% over the last two decades in the state.Agriculture in Kerala is mainly characterised by a mixture of small-holder farming and large-scale plantations focused on cash crops such as rubber, tea, coffee, coconut and other spices. Rice is the main cereal produced in the state, but its farming volumes are much less than cash crops.