MP farmer destroys soybean crop over poor prices; Cong slams BJP for its policies

Bhopal/Mandsaur (MP), Aug 19 (PTI) A farmer in Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur district destroyed his soybean crop, claiming he did not receive a good price for his produce, prompting the Congress to question the BJP-led government's farm policies.

In a video that surfaced on social media, farmer Kamlesh Patidar, a resident of Devaria village in Mandsaur, is seen destroying standing crops on his field using a tractor.

Sharing the video in a post on 'X', Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Jitu Patwari said, "A shocking and worrying incident happened in Garoth of Mandsaur. Farmer Kamlesh Patidar ran his tractor over the soybean crop only because the market price was causing losses instead of earning him profit." The Congress leader tagged Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the post and said the pain is not just of one but thousands of farming families in the state.

He further claimed the BJP had failed to fulfil its promise about the minimum selling price for the soybean crop after coming to power.

Taking to PTI, the farmer said he had 140 quintals of old soybean, which he sold at Shamgarh Mandi for Rs 3,800 per quintal.

If the new soybean price opens at Rs 3,500 to Rs 3800 per quintal, cultivators will suffer a loss, he said.

He said four quintals of soybean are produced on one bigha (0.6 acres) land.

Patidar claimed he had spent Rs 8,000 per bigha till now and will have to spend another Rs 6,000 per bigha till the crop arrives.

"If the new soybean price opens at Rs 3,500 to Rs 3,800 per quintal, what will we get? Considering this, I destroyed standing crop on 12 to 13 bigha (more than 7 acres)," Patidar said.

BJP spokesman Pankaj Chaturvedi said Union Minister Chouhan recently exposed the agriculture policy of the previous Congress governments.

Improvements have come under the BJP government, with Rs 1.6 lakh crore being disbursed under the crop insurance scheme, besides direct transfer benefits and other schemes of farmers' welfare, he said.

"Patwari should stop doing politics, as the issues of farmers are the BJP government's top priority. It has been sorting out the agriculture-related problems created by the Congress over the years," Chaturvedi said. PTI COR ADU ARU