Murmurs in hinterland as soyabean prices still down but edible oil is costlier
Nagpur: A month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in Wardha, where deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis mentioned the hike in customs duty on edible oil from 12.5% to 32% so soyabean farmers would get better prices, the rates have only fallen. On the other hand, edible oil prices have risen, hitting consumers hard.The intention behind the duty hike, implemented over a month ago, was to increase the demand for domestically grown soyabean and other oil seeds, thereby raising the prices.
The end of the soyabean harvest coincided with the elections being announced. But rates of the produce have crashed to an all-time low. Market rates are more than Rs1,000 below the minimum support price (MSP), which is Rs4,900 a quintal. Soyabean is the second major crop of the region after cotton. The crash is expected to have its impact on the voting sentiments, say farm activists.The issue has not been raised by any of the opposition parties so far, but farm leaders say an inherent dissatisfaction among the ryots would affect the election sentiment. Even the cotton harvest is delayed by a fortnight due to erratic weather. All these factors have a role, said activists.
BJP workers in the hinterland, on the other hand, feel that the Ladki Bahin payouts may compensate for the losses due to soyabean to a great extent. “Five instalments of Ladki Bahin have already been released, and crop insurance payouts are also expected by this time. If the farmers have enough cash, low rates of soyabean or cotton may not worry them,” said a BJP worker.Vallabh Deshmukh, a farmer and political activist in Buldhana’s Chikli tehsil, says there is silent discontent among the agriculturists.
It is expected that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) candidates may take up the issue as the campaigning picks up. “Farmers are not speaking out but are certainly unhappy, and poor rates would matter,” he said.Raju Shetti, a former MP from Hatakangale and president of Swabhimani Paksha, said party workers will be carrying out a campaign in Vidarbha and Marathwada, saying that the per-acre loss on soyabean is far more than what has been given under Ladki Bahin. Messages expressing ire over low soyabean rates are already doing the rounds on social media, said Manish Jadhav, a farmer from Yavatmal.The duty hike, on the other hand, has made edible oil costly, affecting the consumers, but rates of soyabean, the raw material, are still low. This is because rates of de-oiled cake (DOC), another by-product of soyabean, are low globally. If the govt wants soyabean to fetch a better rate, it should hike duty on DOC imports too, said Vijay Jawandhia, a veteran Shetkari Sangathana activist. From $450 a ton, DOC is now at $320, he said.
