BENGALURU: Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, who was addressing farmers at the Kisan Samman Diwas event at the Yeshwanthpur Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) yard on Friday morning, recalled how he had led a protest for farm sector reforms five decades ago while trying to convince farmers about the pros of the new agriculture reform laws. However, going by the reactions of farmers present at the event, it seemed to have not cut much ice with them.
In his address, Yediyurappa recalled that 50 years ago, he had protested to demand an amendment to the APMC Act. “ I had sat on satyagraha for a week at the Shikaripura APMC demanding the amendment. I am fortunate to bring those amendments when I am the Chief Minister,” he said. Despite the CM and the ministers present there promising that the lives of farmers would be better off after the amendment to the APMC Act, many farmers who took part in the event remained sceptical.
Besides, Yediyurappa slamming those protesting against the new farm laws and calling them “selfish”, and Agriculture Minister BC Patil saying that the protesters were agents of middlemen, may not have helped much. While the Chief Minister’s dream of bringing changes to the Acts — Land Reforms (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020, and Karnataka Agricultural Produce Marketing (Regulation and Development) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 — have materialised, farmers expressed concern that it was almost impossible for the government to weed out the menace of middlemen and, until then, a better life was a distant dream for them, they felt.
The amendments to the Acts, the farmers fear, will make them more vulnerable to the private sector, which could, in turn, encourage middlemen to thrive. Rangegowda, a farmer from Channarayapatna taluk in Hassan district, said he was not even aware of the amendments made to the APMC Act, but he was sure that farmers cannot prosper until middlemen are completely removed from the agricultural produce marketing system.
“I feel it is almost impossible to bring in a system free of middlemen. They (middlemen) decide the price for our products and they earn much more than what we get. The system is in such a condition that no farmer can sell his produce at APMCs without a middleman. Hence, if farmers have to lead a prosperous life, the government has to weed out middlemen from APMCs first,” Rangegowda felt.
Do not know how much the experiment will help me, says farmer
Co-operation Minister S T Somashekhar said that the amendments will allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere. But Manjanna, a farmer from Tumakuru, said, “I don’t know how much the amendment will help me. I have entered into a contract with private parties and they come to my field and take the yield.
I am doing this for years and the new amendment may not matter much to me.” Raghu, another farmer from Tumkauru, is also of similar opinion. “I sell my products both at the APMC and outside. I go to the ‘santhe’ (fair) very often and sell my produce there too.” Meanwhile, C R Shankar, the president of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha of Channarayapatna taluk, welcomed the government’s move.
“The amendment made to the Act will make lives of farmers easier. Farmers, who have been in the clutches of middlemen for ages, will be freed and the amendment helps us decide the price of our produces and it will help farmers financially,” he felt.
Many ignorant about amendments
Many farmers who attended the event had no clue what the amendments were all about, and about 30 per cent of those gathered for the event were party workers. Several BJP workers, sporting green shawls, attended the event.