Punjab: Foodgrain rots, farmers helpless

Sirhind, Punjab:  The rotting grains at Sirhind underlines the irony of Mohinder Singh's existence, a wheat farmer who lives close by and has had to borrow money to put food on the table.

"The government has left the stock here for so long, it's rotting. It should give the grains to poor people like us. We worked hard to grow this grain.", says Mohinder Singh.

On Wednesday NDTV had reported that in hundreds of granaries like this in Punjab, the Government of India has stored grains procured from farmers for over three years about 72 lakh metric tonnes.
 
Ninety per cent of it lies in the open for lack of storage space.
 
According to estimates, wheat grains worth up to Rs. 800 crore are rotting.
 
Punjab's rotting food mountain 2007-2010
 

• 72 lakh metric tonne wheat grain stored
• 65 lakh metric tonnes wheat grain lying in the open
• Rs. 500 crore to Rs. 800 crore worth wheat grain rotting

Grains grown with the sweat of farmers like Mohinder and Hardev Singh, grains on which the government itself has spent thousands of crores in subsidies, grains that could have at least helped lakhs of poor farmers pushed to the edge by unpredictable weather and debt are now a glaring metaphor for India's agrarian neglect.

"The government doesn't care for farmers.", says Farmer Hardev Singh.
 
Farmers in Punjab are feeling let down. Many of them borrow money to feed their children and the scene of rotting food grains certainly is quite disheartening for them.
 

For NDTV Updates, follow us on Twitter or join us on Facebook

Tags: agriculture, foodgrain, grain, malnutrition, poverty, Punjab, wheat