Farmers in Saurashtra region are learning to imbibe a new life in a Covid-19 era as they bring their farm produce for auctions at the market yards.

Manjibhai Ribadiya from Kalawad in Jamnagar district says, he has started learning the ropes of social distancing, personal hygiene and most importantly waiting patiently for his turn to come.

“Life isn’t the same anymore. After the harvest, we wait for an intimation from the market yard for our turn to participate in the auction. Once we receive the SMS, we equip ourselves with masks and gloves and reach the APMC yards. Here, we park our trailer in a queue at a distance and wait for our number to be called out. This is true for all other farmers who come for auction. The only issue we face is the process takes a long time. But now we have realised that it is for our own good,” said Ribadiya, who recently sold his 15 quintals of wheat for ₹2,070 per quintal at Gondal Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) — one of the largest in the region.

Initially, the sudden announcement of lockdown had crippled the farm trade with nearly all the APMCs suspending auctions fearing the spread of the virus. Within a month into lockdown, the Gujarat government asked all the APMCs to resume auctions under strict guidelines and allow agriculture trade to take place so that the rural economy remains in motion.

But the traders, farmers and the yard management had expressed concerns of crowding and chaos at the yards which may defeat the very purpose of the lockdown.

DK Sakhiya, Chairman, Rajkot APMC, saidthe APMC management prepared a micro plan for ground-level execution. “We replicated the government method of registration of farmers using mobile numbers. Once a farmer registers on the number, we classify based on the commission agent, commodity, location and timing and allot each farmer a date and time for auction. Each commission agent has roughly five farmers accompanying him. In all, we have about 100 farmers, some 40-50 traders and about 20 commission agents in a day at the APMC. This way we are avoiding the crowding,” said Sakhiya.

Explaining the procedure for “corona-era” farm auctions, Sakhiya stated that on reaching the yard the farmer queues-up his trolley/trailer along the compound wall. When his number is called out, he brings the trailer in the middle of the compound. There are social distancing circles drawn on two sides, where 40-50 traders/buyers stand in these circles waiting for physical verification.

“The truck/trailer drives through this group of men. Our APMC staff member takes out the samples from the trailer and passes on to these traders. They hold it in their hand, check for quality and make their bid. This is proving to be a smooth system for auctions while maintaining safety guidelines in corona times,” he said adding that farmers get their payment on the same day.

“Those who may not get transport or need to postpone auctions, are allowed a second chance after a week or 10 days,” he said adding that currently five commodities including wheat, chana (chickpea), cotton, coriander seed and jeera (cumin seed) are being auctioned.

Per the latest government data, arrivals have started picking up and auctions at 142 market yards across Gujarat have begun. So far, 8,87,000 quintals of grains and other commodities have arrived at these yards including 4,12,000 quintals of wheat, 2,41,000 quintals of castor and 48,121 quintals of mustard.

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