In a rare video going viral on social media, some farmers can been seenthrowing sacks full of garlic into a river in Madhya Pradesh reportedly due to low prices. According to reports, famers dumping garlic stacks into the Parvati river from a bridge dividing Sehore and Rajgarh districts. One quintal (100 kg) of garlic is produced at a cost of Rs 2,500-3,000, however, it was fetching just Rs 300 to Rs 600 per quintal in the market.
Responding to the incident, a group of farmers in the state said that cultivators were getting abysmally low prices for their garlic crop and even sought that the Centre allow export of the produce to give the market a boost.
In the viral video which was posted by Kisan Swaraj Sangathan (KSS), a farmer can be heard saying they were throwing the bumper garlic crop as prices offered to them were very less. A functionary of the KSS told news agency PTI that the viral footage is from Ashta town in Sehore district and had been sent by one of its workers there.
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Angry farmers even said that they would agitate in front of local MLAs and MPs as well as the state Assembly if the issue was not resolved at the earliest possible.
"Traders are purchasing garlic in the Rs 1-4 per kilogram range. However, cost of production per kilogram was Rs 30-40. We are facing huge losses and so are dumping the produce," farmer Jamshed Khan of Phulmogra village claimed.
Farmers group led by Suryapal Singh Thakur submitted a memorandum to the Jawar tehsildar after holding a protest.
Letter was marked to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and state Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and sought immediate export of onion and garlic in the interest of farmers of the state. It takes Rs 2,000 to produce one quintal of onion, while it is being sold in the range of Rs 500-800.