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Garlic farmers stage protest in Ujjain mandi over low price
Garlic was selling between ₹5-7 per kg in the wholesale market on Monday morning.
Angered by low price of garlic, farmers at Ujjain mandi staged demonstration and locked the mandi gates on Monday morning, as a result of which procurement came to a standstill for two hours, forcing the authorities to intervene in the matter.
Garlic was selling between ₹5-7 per kg in the wholesale market on Monday morning.
The outburst by the Ujjain farmers comes three days after farmers at Shyamgarh mandi in Mandsaur district gheraoed the office of the mandi committee after garlic sold at ₹1 per kg. The same day garlic had sold at ₹2 in the neighbouring Neemuch mandi. Madhya Pradesh is the highest producer of garlic and accounts for 31 per cent of the country’s production.
Sources said more than 100 quintal of garlic is being brought to the mandi by farmers of the region to the Ujjain mandi, but it is selling between ₹500 to ₹700 per quintal.
Bhartiya Kisan Sangh leader Bharat Singh Bais alleged that traders in connivance with mandi employees are exploiting the farmers and misusing the Bhawantar scheme. He alleged that before garlic was included under the Bhawantar scheme, it was being sold at around ₹3000-3200 rupees per quintal, but the price collapsed after that. Bais also criticized the government for keeping the price of garlic at a low of ₹800 per quintal under the Bhawantar scheme.
In the afternoon the mandi authorities changed the employees deployed to conduct the procurement process and the price rose to around ₹1000 per quintal.
