In Maharashtra, price worry among soyabean farmers puts Mahayuti in a pickle ahead of polls

The wholesale price of soyabean in Marathwada’s Latur market has now plunged to Rs 4,300-4,350 per quintal from the corresponding rates of Rs 4,850-4,900 in 2023 and Rs 5,900-6,000 in 2022.

“If the rates have already fallen below the government’s Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 4,892 per quintal, what will be it like once the new crop starts arriving in the mandi?” asked Rohan Shelar, who cultivates 10 acres at Medsinga village in Dharashiv (erstwhile Osmanabad) district. The 24-year-old farmer said he has already conveyed his concern to Manoj Jarange Patil, the activist who has been leading a campaign to demand reservation for Marathas. “I told Dada (Jarange Patil) that this price collapse affects our community the most, as we are primarily agriculturalists,” Shelar said.

He blamed the drop in soyabean prices to the central government’s move to allow import of “cheap” edible oil at low tariff. The effective duty on these imports, after adding agricultural and social welfare cesses, comes to 5.5% on soyabean oil (imported mainly from Argentina and Brazil), crude palm oil (from Indonesia and Malaysia) and sunflower oil (from Russia, Ukraine and Romania). “The government must take immediate steps to stop these cheap imports or else be ready to pay the price,” Shelar said.

Jarange Patil’s agitation seeking reservation in government jobs and education for the Maratha community under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category has already posed a challenge to the ruling Mahayuti coalition comprising the BJP, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar-led NCP.

With Maharashtra headed for the Assembly polls in a few months, the slide in soyabean prices could add to ruling camp’s woes while giving fresh ammunition to the resurgent Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance – comprising the Congress, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) – which won 30 out of the state’s 48 seats as against the Mahayuti’s 17 seats in the recent Lok Sabha polls. The MVA bagged eight out of Marathwada’s nine seats and 7 of Vidharbha’s 10 seats in these polls.

A farm leader of the NCP (SP), Pooja More said: “Last year, we had a poor crop due to dry weather. This year, the crop looks very good, but if the farmer still loses money, it is government policy alone that is to blame. We will certainly raise this issue in the coming days.” Pooja is from Beed, which is also Jarange Patil’s home district.

The Congress MP from Latur, Shivaji Kalge, also flagged the crisis affecting the soyabean farmers of the belt. “Latur is the hub of soyabean trade in the country. Farmers here have stored soyabean from the last three seasons in hope of better prices. But with prices crashing every other day, many of them are staring at economic losses. The central government must take steps to prevent this,” Kalge said, making it clear that he would highlight the issue at various levels.

In the neighbouring state of Madhya Pradesh too, where soyabean has been sown on 53.48 lakh hectares of land this season, the farmers have been reeling from this crisis. “In the next 15 days, when the new crop arrivals take off, there would be a bloodbath,” claimed Kedar Sirohi, president of the MP Congress’s farmer cell. He demanded that the government declare Rs 6,000 per quintal MSP for soyabean.

However, Naresh Goenka, vice-chairman of the Indore-based Soyabean Processors Association of India, is not seeing any signs of an increase in soybean procurement prices. “Once the crop arrivals start, prices may only further dip. We have had talks with the government about the need for an import duty revision and are hopeful that it would be looked into,” he told The Indian Express.

Significantly, the Mahayuti suffered a setback in the onion belt of Maharashtra in the Lok Sabha polls, winning only one of six seats as against the MVA’s five seats. This was attributed, among other factors, to the continued curbs on free export of onions.

In December last year, the Centre had banned onion export, anticipating lower production due to the drought in Maharashtra. In March this year, the Centre lifted the ban but with riders including a Minimum Export Price (MEP) of $550 per tonne and 40% export duty – a move which is said to have made onion export virtually impossible.

The sugarcane and the cooperative sugar mills have long influenced politics in Maharashtra, especially in its western region, which would again play out in the upcoming Assembly polls.

As regards milk, due to its low procurement price currently, the state’s dairy farmers under the aegis of the CPI(M)-affiliated All India Kisan Sabha have been agitating for better milk prices. The Mahayuti government’s offer of Rs 5 per litre subsidy has not cut much ice with these farmers, who are demanding a minimum procurement price of Rs 40 against the current rate of Rs 27-30 per litre.