Thousands of farmers under the banner of the Navnirman Krushak Sangathan (NKS) on Wednesday dumped vegetables, pulses, groundnuts and milk on the road at Chandikhol Chhak in Jajpur district protesting distress sale of their produces.
NKS president Akshaya Kumar said thet most farmers are struggling to get their produces into the market, but they feel it is not worth the effort. They are not even able to cover the cost of labour and transportation.
Price variations are forcing farmers to leave vegetables to rot in the fields. Dumping of vegetables on roadside has become a common scene in the district, said Kumar.
Around 3,500 impoverished farmers struggling with debt and poor rainfall have killed themselves in the State within 17 years of the Naveen Patnaik Government due to the Government’s anti-farmer policies, he alleged.
The farmers of the district, who are battling distress sale of groundnut, pulses, coriander, milk and vegetables, had submitted a memorandum to the Jajpur Collector in this regard, but it didn’t yield any fruitful solution. Hence, they hit the streets protesting the distress sale, they said.
The agitators reiterated their demands of “price, prestige and pension” for farmers besides crop loan waiver.
NKS adviser Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, said, “All Governments should now learn that until they bring agriculture and farmers to the central focus of their policies, they will have to face such Satyagraha.”
“The farmers of Odisha are not getting their remunerative prices for selling their produces. The earnings are not sufficient to repay the crop loans,” he added.