How to vote out a farm crisis

Falling prices of agricultural produce are worrisome for the BJP in Haryana and Maharashtra, where elections are due

- SANJEEB MUKHERJEE

That farm issues and politics have an easy commerce is an old adage.

And the truth of this was again tested when it was found that Madhya Pradesh, which had its Assembly election last year, and Maharashtra, which is going to the polls, have a common concern: Soybean prices.

The Rakshabandhan day this year was particularly bad for Kamlesh Patidar, a farmer in Devariya village, Mandsaur district, Madhya Pradesh.

When his relatives were busy with the festivities, Kamlesh was ploughing down his full-grown soybean with two tractors.

His frustration was that the price he was getting in the open market was not enough to cover his basic cost of production, let alone fetch him any profit.

An enraged Kamlesh not only destroyed his crop but also advised his fellow farmers to do so.

Soybean has been selling in Madhya Pradesh and its adjoining markets at 3,500-4,000 per quintal, which is the lowest it has fetched in more than 10 years.

The minimum selling price (MSP) of soybean is ₹4,892 per quintal. The rates being quoted in Madhya Pradesh mandis is a good ₹800-900 per quintal less than the MSP.

Recently, farmers in the state started a relay protest, demanding a purchase price equivalent to ₹6,000 per quintal.

Soybean was sown in around 12.51 million hectares this summer, nearly 2 per cent higher than normal acreage under the crop.

Normal acreage is the average of the last five years.

The plummeting of soybean rates just ahead of the harvest is also due to cheap imports of edible oils, which are now allowed at nil duty till March 2025.

This measure to control inflation has seen a flood of imported edible oils in the country, negatively impacting farmers' earnings.