Looking back 2023: Farmers continue fight for better price of crops

Amritsar, December 28

Even as farmers completed two years of victory over the Central Government on the issue of three controversial agriculture laws, the overall condition of the agrarian community did not change for better. The farmers continue to fight over several issues that included the guarantee for the minimum support price (MSP) and better prices for their agricultural produce.

Protests over unfair land compensation

For the farming community, the year witnessed several protests be it against unfair compensation for land acquired for the road projects under the Bharatmala Pariyojana (BMP), release of arrears of sugarcane dues, increase in prices of sugarcane, low price of basmati and so on.

The farmer unions now divided into two groups — the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Political) and Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-political) — organised numerous protests this year to get their voices heard.

Farmers unhappy over low prices of basmati

The area under basmati cultivation increased significantly to 1.42 lakh hectares this year as the state government ran a special drive for the promotion of basmati cultivation in the district. Farmers were unhappy as they failed to get a profitable price for their hard produced crop. The farmers had to resort to protests to get a fair price after private buyers reduced prices citing export restrictions by the Union Government. This year too, farmers demanded that the MSP for basmati should be fixed as it had high export value.

Another blow for peas, potato cultivators

Towards the end of the year, vegetable growers received another blow as the market price of peas and potato plummeted. Farmers were forced to sell peas for Rs 12 per kg and potato for Rs 5 per kg. Many farmers destroyed their crops as harvesting and packaging added to input costs while the returns were too low.

Farm fires in district and claims of government

The district reported a total of 1,573 farm fires during the paddy season which were on the higher side as compared to the last season. The district reported a total of 1,542 farm fires last year. However, the district witnessed less farm fires during the current wheat season as compared to the last year. This year, the district witnessed 871 incidents of wheat stubble burning as compared to 1,245 in the year 2022.