Why Mandsaur farmers are angry? All you need to know about the Madhya Pradesh agitation

Madhya Pradesh farmers have protested for several weeks demanding better prices for crops and waivers from the state government for repayment of farm loans.

At least five farmers were killed and several injured in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur district when police fired on protesters demanding better prices in the drought-ravaged region that recorded a farm suicide every five hours in 2016-17.

Farmers torch trucks in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur district during protests on Wednesday. (PTI Photo)

Here’s all you need to know about the agitation:

*With 72% of cultivated area in MP being rain fed, if rain is deficient or fails, it hits the farmers badly

* This year was the second year of a bumper onion crop with no buyers

* Farmers were forced to sell produce at for Rs 2 to 3 per kg as the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government delayed announcing procurement price of Rs 8 per kg

* 33% of onion procured by the government rotted in absence of adequate storage facility

* The situation is bad in the Malwa-Nimad region, which comprises 15 districts, including Mandsaur, where five farmers died in police firing.

* 1,982 farmers have committed suicide in 2016-17, highest since 2001

*The National Crime Records Bureau attributed the reasons to crop failure, failure to sell produce, inability to repay loans, and other non-agriculture factors such as poverty and property disputes.

* Most suicides are committed by small and marginal farmers.