Daijiworld Media Network – New Delhi
New Delhi, Feb 10: Farmers’ organisations have announced nationwide protests against India’s free trade agreement with the United States, warning that the deal would severely harm domestic agriculture and farmers’ livelihoods.
Bhartiya Kisan Union national convener Rakesh Tikait said the agitation would be on the lines of the 2020–21 farmers’ protest against the now-repealed farm laws. Farmer leaders alleged that the agreement overwhelmingly favours the US agricultural sector and exposes Indian farmers to unfair competition.
Citing statements by US officials, including USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins and USTR Jamieson Greer, the organisations said the deal would boost American agricultural exports to India, ensure higher prices for US farmers and channel capital into rural America. They claimed India has opened its markets to several US agricultural and food products, including dried distillers’ grains with solubles (DDGs), red sorghum for animal feed, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruits, soybean oil, wine and spirits.
Farmer leaders warned that imports of DDGs would depress domestic prices of maize, sorghum and soybean used for animal feed and fodder. They said increased soybean oil imports would further push down soybean prices, which are already well below the Minimum Support Price of Rs 5,328, worsening the crisis faced by farmers in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana and Rajasthan.
Tikait criticised the Centre for signing the agreement without consulting farmer organisations or assessing its impact. “The non-disclosure of negotiation-related documents indicates an attempt to hide the details of this agreement,” he said.
All India Kisan Sabha national convener Bijoo Krishnan announced that farmers would burn effigies of US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in villages across the country. Drawing parallels with the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement, he said similar deals had devastated Kerala’s spice and rubber sectors. “These FTAs will destroy India’s agricultural backbone,” he warned.
Farmer organisations also expressed opposition to the draft Seeds and Pesticide Bills, terming them anti-farmer.