Farmers in India have been on the march demanding greater procurement prices and financial support from the government, among other things. Meanwhile, farmers across Europe are up in arms because of falling prices for their harvest, access to credit, pesticide regulations and food import policies. Globally, agriculture is in turmoil and this doesn’t bode well for food security and farm incomes. Please listen to the latest episode of All Indians Matter.
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[00:00:00] Several farmer associations have called for the march to demand a law guaranteeing MSP for their produce.
[00:00:09] One of the conditions they had set when they agreed to withdraw their agitation.
[00:00:14] Indian police used to your gas to disperse the protesters and detained several demonstrators calling for higher prices for their produce.
[00:00:24] Hello and welcome to All Indians Matter. I'm Ashraf Engineer. a massive farmer agitation in 2020. So, what's the difference between those protests and the latest ones? In 2020, farmers were vehemently opposed to three farm laws that they served good to them at the mercy of large corporations. There was also fear that government mechanisms of procurement of their produce would be dismantled. Such was the intensity of the protests that
[00:01:40] the government had to repeal the laws., but it has also done everything in its power to stop them from entering Delhi. Coming back to MSP, it's a matter of survival for farmers, which is why it's got them up in arms. They usually find themselves in a buyer's market.
[00:03:01] Their crops are marketed in bulk, and if there are surprise increases, prices start falling.
[00:03:06] Generally speaking, the farmers and inflicts huge losses in their incomes. Ashok Dhavele, president of the Sabha, said rising costs and an unfair MSP would push many farmers, especially small, marginal and mid-level, into crippling debt.
[00:04:23] He pointed out that when the Bharatiya Chantap any way you look at it, whether from an implementation point of view or economic. The government simply doesn't have that kind of money. There is a third option, commonly known as price deficiency payments or PDP. In this option, the government does not purchase the crop. Instead, it pays farmers the difference between market price and MSP
[00:05:43] if the farmer is lower.
[00:05:44] This system was piloted in Madhya Pradesh through the Bhavanta Bhuktan Yojana. and distorts production decisions resulting in oversupply of some crops and undersupply of others. If at all farmers must be supported say economists, it is better to do it through direct cash transfers, a fixed annual sum deposited into their bank accounts. This could be a fixed amount per farmer or per acre of holding. This, argue economists, doesn't distort the market and enables farmers to diversify
[00:07:02] their crops, grow what they wish Toledo and Zaragoza. Farmers in Poland and Hungary said the European Union was not doing enough to halt cheap imports from Ukraine, which was undercutting local produce. Belgian farmers meanwhile protested at a European Union meeting of ministers in Geng against anti-pesticide legislation. As a consequence, the European Commission recommended