Rice bumper output

Our farmers are always in a catch 22 situation. They are doomed if they don't grow enough and they are doomed if they grow more than enough. Growing bumper crops has become a bane for our farmers as a report in this paper so glaringly exposed. 

When we should take delight in the fact that the country has become self-sufficient in food grains, producing nearly five million tonnes more than our requirement, partly due to the bumper boro output last season, the farmers are left to rue the bumper harvest because they are having to sell their produce at 20 percent less than the production cost. The price decline has been due to the glut caused by the bumper harvest coupled with imports by private traders. Not even the 10 percent import duty, that came too late, has been effective, because the exporters have skillfully circumvented the duty. And why should we import rice when there is enough in the market?

While market mechanism should dictate prices, we feel that the government should intervene in situations like these to ensure that the prices are not kept low at the cost of the farmers. There can be temporary moratorium on import to keep the price reasonable and the government should reinvigorate its existing procurement policy so that the farmers get their due. The farmers, who at times suffer from the vagaries of nature, must not become victims of man's vagaries particularly those that distort the market. Should the farmers suffer for growing bumper crops?