Farmers protest 'suspension' of soybean procurement under MSP

Latur, Jan 28 (PTI) Farmers on Tuesday held a protest in front of the district collector office in Maharashtra's Latur against the alleged suspension of soybean procurement under the Minimum Support Price (MSP).

Only four days are now left for the procurement of soybean under the MSP to complete. Adding to the farmers' woes, the procurement target for the district was fulfilled by Monday night itself, leading to the suspension of weighing operations at the MSP centres from Tuesday.

To protest against closure of MSP centres, a large number of farmers brought 100 tractors filled with soybean sacks, and gathered in front of the collector office on Barshi Road.

The protest caused a traffic snarl as vehicles formed queues stretching far along the road. The protest, which began at 4 pm, continued for two hours.

The agitation, supported by farmers' organisations, raised demands for the extension of the operational period for all 54 MSP procurement centres in the district. They also insisted that all registered farmers should be allowed to sell their soybeans under the scheme.

Talking to PTI, the district president of the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, Dharmraj Patil, said the MSP centres were closed on Tuesday morning without any prior notice to the farmers.

"Many farmers, who had received SMS notifications from the federation to sell their soybeans, arrived at the centres using rented vehicles. However, when they inquired about the closure of the centres, no one provided them with any information," he said.

"Soybeans from nearly 50 percent of the farmers have not been sold yet. Therefore, farmers gathered at the collector's office to raise the demands," Patil said.

Director of the Maharashtra State Cooperative Marketing Federation, Abasaheb Patil Selukar, said the target of procuring 12 lakh quintals of soybean from the district had been achieved and therefore, the government closed the official portal.

"Today, I am in Mumbai and have requested government officials to allow additional procurement. Following this, the target for Latur district has been increased by an extra two lakh quintals of soybean. MSP centres have now resumed operations across the district," he said. PTI COR NP