Glut On First Day After Maharashtra Farmers’ Strike Doesn’t Help Traders

Supplies of fruits and vegetables after seven days of farmers' protest were expected to bring relief to traders at the bulk farm produce market in Navi Mumbai. Only, it didn't.

Farmers demanding a loan waiver and higher support prices called off the strike in many parts of Maharashtra on Thursday. This led to a glut at the Agricultural Produce and Market Committee, and most of the supplies were either sold at throwaway prices or remained unsold.

“The market committee and the government are of no use. They did nothing for us or the farmers,” Yogesh Thosar, a vegetable seller, told BloombergQuint. Farmers' demand have not been met and they are trying to sell their produce in the cities again, said Thosar. “The strike was a failure.”

While the state government has agreed to a Rs 30,000-crore loan waiver for small and marginal farmers, there is no clarity on other details yet. The waiver will be implemented by October 31, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had said.

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Traders too bore the brunt of the protest. Dagrusheth Bhujbal, one such trader, procured Rs 4 lakh worth of vegetables from farmers. When nothing got sold for the right price, he sent the stock back to farmers, Bhujbal said. “I did not even make enough money to pay the trucks that carried these vegetables.”

The strike began on June 1 when farmers in Ahmednagar, nearly 270 kilometres east of Mumbai, stopped sending their farm produce to cities. Protests spread to other parts of the state, hurting supply of vegetables, fruits, and pulses, forcing the government to initiate negotiations.

“If farmers had to go on a strike, they should have carried it on until their demands were met. For now, things have only become worse for them and us,” said Abhishek Pal, another vegetable trader.