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Revamped cashew procurement plan in Kerala flies into big flak

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

The Communist Party of India-Marxist is moving carefully on a plan to procure cashew nuts directly from the farmers, having attracted flak from various sources.

Industries Minister Susheela Gopalan, who had earlier this month assured the state assembly that the scheme would be put in place before the cashew season began, now appears to be vacillating following strong pressure from the farmers' lobby. The CPI-M is more worried since it has already invited much criticism for the way its cadres tried to stop conversion of paddy fields.

Gopalan abandoned the search for a consensus soon after an acrimonious meeting with the farmers. Irrespective of party affiliation, farmers's organisations have opposed the move to bring back such monopoly procurement. And the government is taking it easy since this could be construed as another anti-farmer action, at a time the election is round the corner.

A move to introduce the scheme was dropped last year also due to opposition from growers. One party that's all for the scheme, though, is the Revolutionary Socialist Party. Trade union wings of the CPI-M as well as those of Opposition parties back the scheme which was suspended in 1996 when a division bench of the Kerala high court quashed the Kerala Raw Cashewnut (Procurement and Distribution) Act, 1981 that enabled the government buy cashew straight from the growers. The court had observed that the legislation had failed to fulfil its objectives.

The state industries minister, who owes allegiance to the CPI-M's trade union wing, has a contingency legislation up her sleeve. But, in the absence of a green signal from her party bosses, she didn't introduce it in the just concluded assembly session.

Now that the assembly has been adjourned sine die she can only try to get an ordinance issued by the government, an unlikely prospect since the dominant faction in the party, the one headed by politburo member V S Achutanandan is dead against monopoly procurement. So, most likely, Gopalan will have to lunch on humble pie again.

Monopoly procurement has always been opposed by cashew farmers and demanded by their workers, numbering about 300,000. The farmers say such a policy impinges on their freedom and does not get them the remunerative prices they want. The workers want it because it also protects them. The Left Democratic Front had initiated monopoly procurement after high prices sent private cashew processing factories to neighbouring states.

Though the Congress, which was in the Opposition when it was instituted, is not particularly interested in the scheme, political compulsions forced the party to keep the legislation every time they came to power.

The previous United Democratic Front government, who suspended the scheme for two years, succumbed to the pressure. It was the high court that came to its rescue and both growers and workers agree that the scheme, the way it was being implemented, didn't work. No government has been able to provided more than 40 day jobs to workers under the scheme. In contrast, the private sector was able to provide more than 200 day jobs.

The main reason the scheme failed is because the procurement agencies was facing a resources crunch. So in 1994, when the domestic production of cashew was 140,000 tonnes, the procurement agencies could not take off more than 40,000 tonnes. The situation was worse because banks are usually reluctant to provide funds since they have had bitter experiences in the past.

The government can't help, since it is itself strapped for cash. Although the industries minister has promised to plug all the loopholes in the revamped scheme, the cashew sector is not ready for any more experimentation with their profit margins.