This is the harvesting time. The paddy farmer, both sharecropper and otherwise are once again at the mercy of buyers. The going price of a kilogram of paddy is approximately Rs 20/=. The price of rice in the retail market has skyrocketed, hitting a Rs 70/= per kilogram. Farmers accuse big businesses of monopolizing and manipulating the paddy market by buying at low prices which would soon lead to many farmers going out of business. Consumers, on the other hand, are furious over inflated rice prices. This is a sad situation. The community which produces rice, (which has been the country's staple food for millennia), is in danger, for the community cannot afford to eat its traditional staple food anymore. State intervention to arrest the situation is minimal. More importantly the state does not have a mechanism to implement these activities as all the institutions that were supposed to either assure a reasonable price for paddy in the benefit of the farmer or to ensure quality rice at an affordable price for the consumer are now dead. The state is powerless to do anything other than request the big businesses to be fair to both the consumer and the farmer, in their dealings. Some accuse powerful politicians of the government of having a hand in this.
