Sir — This refers to the article, “Mumbai march and implications” (March 14) by Navneet Anand. The farmer’s protest in Maharashtra was more about land issues than seeking farm loan-waiver or Minimum Support Price. But the kind of short-term approach various State Governments have adopted so far, by waiving farm loan-waiver, is not desirable. What is required is better crop science to improve the quality of product, make cold storage available to farmers and provide access to global markets so that they do not remain dependent only on local consumption.
Now that the Maharashtra Government has reached out to other stakeholders, like forest department, the Union Government must fulfill the promises made to poor farmers. Since they are not actual landholders, they are deprived of any financing facility unlike other farmers who have the access to both Government and private banks besides local moneylenders.