Soybean farmers are protesting falling prices and rising production costs. Despite being the largest producer, MP is excluded from the government’s MSP purchase list, leading to demands for fair prices.
INVC NEWS
New Delhi : It will take 20 days for the soybean crop to be ready and come to the market, but even before the crop arrived, the prices of soybean were continuously falling, there is a demand of 6000 per quintal on the support price of soybean on social media and farmers are doing a lot on Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter. To give relief to the farmers troubled by the falling prices of soybean, the central government has announced the purchase of soybean at the support price. Surprisingly, there will be no purchase in the state of Madhya Pradesh which is the highest producer. In Maharashtra too, the production was around 50 lakh tonnes. Rajasthan is at the third place in soybean production and then Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and other states come.
Surprisingly, the Center has kept only one state Maharashtra in the purchase list among the major producing states. The farmers of Madhya Pradesh are continuously agitating against the reduced prices. According to the announcement of the Center, soybean will be purchased at the support price in Maharashtra, Telangana and Karnataka. The farmers of the state are not only feeling cheated but are also surprised by the inclusion of the names of Telangana and Karnataka. Electoral politics is being linked to this.
Farmers say that diesel, petrol, pesticides and wages are increasing continuously but in the last four-five years the prices of soybean are decreasing. Farmers say that the cost is increasing and due to not getting the right price, there is loss. Farmers told that around Rs 10000 is being spent per bigha. The production of soybean is three to four quintals per bigha. Currently, the price is running below Rs 4200 to Rs 4400 per quintal, which is even less than the support price. In such a situation, the concern of farmers about not getting the right price for the upcoming crop soybean is clearly visible. Farmers have demanded Rs 6000 per quintal soybean on social media and it is being made viral which is also a topic of discussion at this time.
Atul Maheshwari, Organization Minister of Bharatiya Kisan Sangh of Malwa province, says that they are protesting on September 16 regarding the low prices of soybean in MP. Not only soybean, the government should buy every crop at the support price and there should be equal purchase from every state. There should be purchase from Madhya Pradesh as well. We are also raising this demand. The support price of soybean has been declared as Rs 4892. At present, the price of soybean in the market is only Rs 4000 to Rs 4600 per quintal. According to SOPA, the production of soybean in MP was about 52 lakh tonnes in the last season.
Ploughing in summer Rs 1500, rotavator Rs 500, seed and treatment Rs 2500, weeding, sowing Rs 1500, three/four sprays of weedicide and caterpillar pesticide Rs 1500, harvesting and cleaning Rs 1200-1500, labor, freight from home to market Rs 1000. The central government has been importing edible oil duty free for the whole year. Due to cheap foreign oil coming into the country, the prices of local soybean have come down. The Soybean Processors of India (SOPA) had recently demanded from the Centre that the duty on oil imports be increased.
If cheap foreign oil is not available, then soybean mills will buy soybean from local farmers at a good price. SOPA director DN Pathak says that Maharashtra produces soybean at par with MP. Telangana and Karnataka barely produce 3 lakh tonnes. We hope that Madhya Pradesh’s name will also be added and further the import duty on oil will also be increased. However, the government cannot make oil by itself even after buying soybean. Eventually that soybean will come to the mills only. ( PLC & GT )
