Farmers are unhappy with the lack of adequate government support and are likely to make it difficult for the BJP to return to power, especially in Rajasthan.
New Delhi: On October 25, while addressing a rally in Jhalawar, Rajasthan, Rahul Gandhi spoke about garlic prices hitting rock-bottom in the region. Prices had fallen to Rs 2 a kilogram, he said.
In Madhya Pradesh too, Gandhi spoke about falling garlic prices. In fact, he began the poll campaign in June from Mandsaur, which saw a massive farmer’s agitation in 2017 in which six farmers lost their lives to police firing. Garlic selling at Rs 1-2 a kilogram was one of the triggers for the Mandsaur agitation.
Until recently, garlic was a major cash crop in the Malwa region in western Madhya Pradesh and Hadoti region in eastern Rajasthan. The two regions account for about 45% of India’s total garlic production.
In the 2016 season, farmers growing garlic could fetch prices as high as Rs 100 a kilogram, according to data from the government’s price information network, Agmarknet.
“Garlic was like a golden crop for farmers in this region. High-quality garlic could even get prices of Rs 13,000 a quintal (Rs 130 a kilogram). A lot of farmers would grow it as insurance because we could recover money that we lost in other crops,” said Sunil Rawal, a farmer in Kota.
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