Farmers plan barter during June 1-10 mandi boycott

JAIPUR: Farmers of Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat have decided to boycott mandis in urban centres for 10 days between June 1 and 10. Plans are already afoot to make good use of all produce that cannot be stocked for over 10 days. Dairy farmers will barter milk for vegetables, a farmer leader told TOI. At a meeting on May 2 in Chandigarh, over 150 farmers’ organizations came together to announce the boycott and to plan activities in that period.
Kedar Shankar Sirohi, farmer leader from Harda district of Madhya Pradesh, said, “There are over one lakh farmers in our district, and almost all of us will be participating in this protest.For us, the fact that our produce now fetches only half the price we expected is a bigger problem that planning what to do for 10 days, when we will be boycotting the urban mandis. We have a number of diary farms, and the plan is to make ghee, khoa and mava. There is a big demand for ghee these days. We will also allow calves to drink from the cows, which we usually do not allow. We also plan on barter – dairy farmers will offer milk in return for vegetables from people who grow vegetables. We usually sell our best produce and eat what we think is inferior. We look forward now to keeping the best produce for ourselves.”
Punjab farmer leader Ramandeep Mann said, “We are planning to set up haats in rural areas, so that produce can be sold without going to mandis in urban centres. For milk, we plan to make ghee. We will also increase free distribution of milk to orphanages and other centres in that time. Our plan is not to sell produce in urban centres, and not to buy anything either from the cities.”
Farmer Ram Inaniya of Madhya Pradesh said, “We will invite our friends from the cities to be with us in the villages. We will not take our produce to urban mandis, and we will not buy anything from the cities either. We will use our own produce.” His neighbour, Rajesh Bhari, a vegetable farmer, said, “We have been selling our produce cheap. For 10 days, we will just boycott all sale. We hope to send out a great message.”
On April 30, farmers from across the country representing over 100 farmer organizations gathered in Delhi to announce the plan. Former BJP Union minister Yashwant Sinha too is part of this programme. No grains, milk or vegetables will be sold in urban mandis. Farmers have been demanding that the BJP government at the Centre keep its poll promise of offering farmers a minimum support price that is 50% higher than the cost of production. They have also been demanding waiver of loans. Even in states that have earlier announced such waivers, farmers were disappointed by the paltry sums received in loan waiver cheques issued by government.
Farmers from Hanumangarh and Sriganganagar in Rajasthan are also part of this effort.