Farmers protest near summit venue

ROHTAK: Farmers under the banner of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), Jai Kisan Andolan and Bhumi Bachao Andolan boycotted the three-day agriculture leadership summit that started in Rohtak on Saturday, alleging mustard being sold at rates lower than the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 4,000 per quintal. The farmers held a protest at Rohtak’s grain market claiming that the rabi oilseed was being purchased at Rs 3,200-3,500 per quintal.

Farmer leaders alleged that the state government should have been proactive in resolving the ongoing crisis to revive the ailing farming community, but it chose to brag over its dubious farm policies with the upcoming elections in mind.

BKU’s Rohtak unit president Pratap Singh said one of the major problems being faced by farmers was that the government had introduced roster system under which farmers of specified villages were eligible to sell their produce on a certain date. “This is causing difficulties and confusion among farmers as the roster was announced only a day before the procurement began,” he added.

Pratap said it was ironic on the part of the state government to hold a three-day mega event in the name of farmers by arranging paraphernalia but the ground reality claimed by the incumbent regime did not hold any water and needed proper implementation of its claims.

Talking to TOI, Bhumi Bachao Andolan chief Hansraj Rana said against the MSP of Rs 4,000 per quintal, farmers were getting spot prices as observed by their team in Rewari and Nuh, which ranged between Rs 3,300 and Rs 3,500 quintal.

“The government’s response has so far been very tardy. In Haryana, the government has set up 11 procurement centres for mustard, but the process suffers from several flaws, including that the centres are not located in the mandis, causing inconvenience and increasing transportation costs for farmers,” Rana said, adding that the state government had placed unreasonable quantitative limits (6.6 quintals per acre subject to an overall cap of 25 acres). “This limit is lower than the average production this year and, thus, forces the farmers to sell part of their crop in the open market,” he alleged.

‘Cooperation of states needed for doubling farm income’

Union minister of state for agriculture and farmer welfare Parshottam Rupala appreciated the Haryana government for taking effective steps to realize the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to double the income of farmers by 2022. Rupala was addressing the gathering on the first day of the three-day Agri Leadership Summit-2018 in Rohtak on Saturday. Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar was also present on the occasion.

The Union minister said since agriculture was a state subject, the vision to double farmers’ income could only be achieved with the cooperation of states. Referring to the issue of minimum support price (MSP), Rupala said the Union government under PM’s leadership was the first government to announce that MSP of all notified crops would be at least 1.5 times the cost of production. He added that to ensure that farmers at grassroots got the benefit of MSP, a policy would be prepared in consultation with the NITI Aayog.

