Soy farmers protesting procurement delays lock officials in Adilabad

Soy farmers in Boath mandal centre protested government delays in soybean procurement, causing financial losses. They demanded immediate action to prevent further hardship, citing difficulties with private traders and insufficient government support.

Adilabad: Soy farmers protesting against the government’s failure to ensure timely procurement of soybean produce locked marketing officials in a room at the Boath mandal centre on Thursday, demanding immediate intervention to save them from mounting losses.

The farmers said they were facing severe hardships in selling their produce due to the lack of marketing opportunities, which they blamed on government inaction. They said the delay in procurement was forcing them to sell oilseeds to private traders at throwaway prices, resulting in huge financial losses.

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The agitating farmers urged the government to take immediate steps to procure the beans and avoid inconvenience to cultivators. They said they had raised the soy crop hoping to earn reasonable returns, but were now struggling due to the absence of a proper procurement mechanism.

Earlier, the farmers staged a sit-in at the agriculture market yard in Boath town. They raised slogans against the government, alleging negligence in making arrangements for smooth procurement. They lamented that they were finding it difficult to safeguard the grains at market yards as the government was refusing to buy the produce.

On December 30, disgruntled soy farmers staged a sit-in in front of an agriculture market yard in Adilabad town, demanding procurement of beans without restrictions. On December 29, they staged a protest by kneeling down at the Bela mandal centre, alleging that officials were harassing them by citing norms of the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) while procuring soybean produce.