PACS may not offer a credible solution to the farmers in Bihar but the Minister is never tired of issuing statements urging farmers to sell their produce to it. Recently, Bihar deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi urged them to visit only Primary Agriculture Societies, media reports say.
Addressing a meeting of the cooperative dept, the deputy CM said PACS are being given enough financial resources and the govt. considers reducing interest rate for loans given to cooperative banks.
Host of farmers of the state who talked to this reporter complained of several lacuna in the procurement process which the farmers do not like. A farmer of Pratapganj block in Supaul district said out of every quintal that we take to PACS, 10 kgs are not counted citing variety of reasons.
Second is the problem of delayed payment through PACS. Paddy sold today will take at least 2-3 months to fetch the payment. Big farmers may sustain but how can we manage, he asked? The local baniyas, though buys our produce cheap, handover the cash immediately-a big relief for the small farmers, he explained the difference.
Some of the PACS are also accused of hobnobbing with local tradesmen at the cost of poor farmers. First PACS would refuse to buy their produce forcing them to sell the same to the local market. By generating fake papers these produce are bought back by PACS thereby distributing the surplus between the two-PACS officials and local tradesman.