Farmers Movement Archive

Revoke amendment to Essential Commodities Act: Farmers’ union

Coimbatore: The central government should revoke the amendment to the Essential Commodities Act, said a group of farmers, who staged a protest in front of the Tirupur collector’s office on Wednesday.The protesters expressed displeasure over passing the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion & Facilitation) Ordinance 2020, which they said, will allows anyone to purchase and sell agriculture produce and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance 2020, which legalises contract farming. While farmers have been urging the government to implement the recommendations of MS Swaminathan commission that suggested increasing minimum support price (MSP) by 50%, the government had made amendments that might affect farmers, especially micro, small and medium farmers, said Tirupur district secretary of All India Kisan Sabha R Kumar. “More than 85% of farmers in the district are micro, small and medium farmers. The restrictions on stocking food produce are removed through the amendments. Most of the farmers have obtained bank loans or borrowed from moneylenders to continue farming activities. In this situation, how can they store their produce for months, to sell for a better price? Also, there are just four storage facilities in the district. Farmers have to spend a lot to transport produce to the facilities,” he said.“Chances are high that middlemen might procure produce at a lower price, store for months and sell for higher price when demand rises. The government’s moves are in favour of the corporate companies and they should change the anti-farmer attitude,” Kumar added.Police arrested 22 protesters.

The Times of India

2020-06-11

Coimbatore