A farmer from Bihar's Samastipur district, who was getting ₹ 1/kg for cauliflower in the local market, on Wednesday sold his crops to a buyer from Delhi at the price of ₹ 10/kg.
A farmer from Bihar's Samastipur district, who was getting Rs 1/kg for cauliflower in the local market, on Wednesday sold his crops to a buyer from Delhi at the price of Rs 10/kg. The farmer has been identified as Om Prakash Yadav. He hails from Muktapur village in Samastipur.
Yadav was anguished after he was offered Rs 1/kg for cauliflower by local buyers. He then ran his tractor over a portion of his unharvested field spread across eight to ten acres of land.
Yadav said that since he was getting Rs 1/kg for cauliflower by local buyers, he took the decision of destroying his crops as he was at loss, and there would be no profit in selling the crop in the market as he would not be able to cover even the cost of transportation. The video of Yadav was captured by the villagers and was circulated on the internet. The video went viral in no time.
After seeing the media reports about Yadav destroying his crop, senior BJP leader and Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad took cognizance of the matter. In a series of tweets, he explained how the Rs 1/kg cauliflowers were sold at Rs 10/kg to a buyer from Delhi. He tweeted, "Yesterday, I learnt that Om Prakash Yadav, a farmer of Muktapur village in Samastipur, Bihar, was getting only one rupee per kg in the local stock of cauliflower crop cultivated his field. Out of frustration, he ran a tractor over his crop and destroyed it."
Prasad further tweeted, "I instructed the Common Service Center of my department to contact the cauliflower farmer and make arrangements to sell his crops at a reasonable price in any market of the country. On Delhi's digital platform e-Kisan Mart, a farmer offered a price of Rs 10 per kg to this farmer."
"After a mutual agreement between the farmer and the buyer, the advance amount for the crops was credited into Yadav's bank account. Today I came to know that not only the transport was provided but the remaining amount has also been deposited in the bank account of the farmer and the cauliflower of Samastipur has left for Delhi," he added.
Praising the Modi government for bringing three farm laws, Prasad wrote, "The new agricultural laws of the government have given the farmer the freedom to sell his crop anywhere. This farmer from Bihar, who was forced to destroy his crop after being disappointed with the price being received in the local mandi, has now been able to sell his crop in Delhi at a price ten times higher than the local price."
Meanwhile, thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, have been protesting against the three agri laws brought by the Center in September. They are currently staying put at Delhi's borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in protest against the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
ALSO READ | Farmers protest: Supreme Court favours negotiation panel, to resume hearing today
