Farmers Movement Archive

Commission agents’ strike enters fourth day, farmers unable to sell produce

Even as the prices of Basmati have declined to around Rs 1,000 per quintal, paddy growers in Haryana are unable to sell their produce—thanks to the indefinite strike of the commission agents, which entered the fourth day on Monday.Due to the strike, the commission agents have not allowed traders to procure paddy and made farmers wait in the mandis for the past three days. Thousands of migrant labourers have been sitting idle since the procurement operations were stopped on September 18.The growers of early varieties of paddy like PUSA 1509 of Basmati and PR 126 of Parmal are bearing the brunt as the strike may cause a glut in the mandis, leading to a further fall in the prices.Also Read: Farm bills: PM Modi says farmers to get better prices because of reforms“My produce from four acres of land is lying unsold in the mandi for the past three days. There are no buyers because of the strike. I am unable to pay the labourers who harvested this crop,” said Sandeep Kumar, a farmer of Nilokheri, Karnal district.According to the farmers and the commission agents, there are no buyers despite the prices of some varieties of Basmati have declined to below Rs 2,000 per quintal. Last year, the price was Rs 3,000 per quintal.The farmers fear that the prices may drop further due to the ongoing strike as the government does not have any control over the private buyers and there is no Minimum Support Price for the Basmati varieties. Also Read: Congress MP says 12 parties have sought time to meet president over passage of farm bills, request him to not give his assentMoreover, the All India Rice Exporters’ Association (AIREA) has also extended its support to the commission agents as it has decided not to procure paddy until the government exempts the market fee even on paddy procured from the grain markets.In this regard, the AIREA has issued an advisory to private traders not to procure paddy till the government decides to withdraw the Market Fees and Rural Infrastructure Development Fee, which is around 4% on the paddy procured in the mandis of the state.However, the ahartia (commission agents ) had declared an indefinite strike, demanding the government withdraw the three ordinances passed by the Centre, but now that the bills have been passed in both the Houses, there is no clarity on how long the strike will continue.“The government has become uncontrollable and it is misusing the mandate to enact such anti-farmer anti-ahartia laws. But this will spread the agitations further if the government fails to resolve this issue,” said Ashok Gupta, state president of Haryana Anaj Mandi Ahartia Association.

Hindustan Times

21-09-2020

Chandigarh