Why Mandsaur farmers are angry? All you need to know about the Madhya Pradesh agitation

india

Updated: Jun 07, 2017 16:30 IST

At least five farmers were killed and several injured in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur district when police fired on protesters demanding better prices in the drought-ravaged region that recorded a farm suicide every five hours in 2016-17.

Here’s all you need to know about the agitation:

*With 72% of cultivated area in MP being rain fed, if rain is deficient or fails, it hits the farmers badly

* This year was the second year of a bumper onion crop with no buyers

* Farmers were forced to sell produce at for Rs 2 to 3 per kg as the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government delayed announcing procurement price of Rs 8 per kg

* 33% of onion procured by the government rotted in absence of adequate storage facility

* The situation is bad in the Malwa-Nimad region, which comprises 15 districts, including Mandsaur, where five farmers died in police firing.

* 1,982 farmers have committed suicide in 2016-17, highest since 2001

*The National Crime Records Bureau attributed the reasons to crop failure, failure to sell produce, inability to repay loans, and other non-agriculture factors such as poverty and property disputes.

* Most suicides are committed by small and marginal farmers.