SKM to Hold Protests Across State Capitals to Oppose Draft Agri Marketing Policy

New Delhi: After a day-long meeting at Harkishan Singh Surjeet Bhawan in the national capital, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Friday decided to hold permanent agitations at District Collectorates to press for its demands of scrapping the draft National Policy Framework on Agriculture Marketing, Minimum Support Price (NPFAM) and a one- time debt relief. The meeting saw the participation of 165 delegates from 73 farmer organisations from 12 states under the leadership of the presidium members, including Hannan Mollah, Joginder Singh Ugrahan, Rakesh Tikait, Revula Venkaiah, Satyawan and Dr. Sunilam. 

Addressing a press conference after the meeting, the farmer leaders maintained that the new framework overrides the power of State assemblies to enact laws on agriculture markets. The farmers organisations said the new draft framework was a return of the repealed three farm laws in disguise.

Hannan Mollah, vice president, All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), said the farmers unions would hold protests on February 8 & 9 in front of Member of Parliament houses and hand them memoranda to ask the government to stall the implementation of the new framework.

“If the government does not heed to our demands, we will establish permanent agitations at state capitals, district and sub-divisions level from March 5 to demand that State Assemblies pass resolutions against the framework and ask the Centre to not to implement it.”

In a statement, SKM said, “in one voice the leaders labelled the policy as a crude attack on Govt Mandis, privatising them to help MNC and Corporate growth in agri retail trade and agri processing corporate industry. It attaches local Grameen Mandis through FPOs and eNAM and will enforce Contract farming via FPOs, Cooperatives and SHGs ensuring cheap supply to Food Processor Value Added Chains and link agriculture with future trade and share market. All these are as per WTO and World Bank prescriptions. NPFAM has no provision for MSP declaration, No provision for Govt Procurement and No provision for Food Storage for supply to PDS. It caters only to Buffer stocks.”

Why farmers are enraged over NPFAM?

The draft agricultural reform proposal has sparked criticism for neglecting key farmer demands, such as legalising minimum support price (MSP), increasing public investment, and improving credit facilities. Instead, it focuses on dismantling state-supported Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs), leaving small and medium farmers vulnerable to exploitation by private trading cartels. The reforms promote corporate-friendly measures, including private wholesale markets, direct farm gate purchases by corporations, and replacing traditional market yards with corporate-controlled warehouses. Large corporations like Reliance and Adani, which have already invested heavily in infrastructure, stand to benefit significantly, the farmer groups said.

SKAM also said that the draft lacked regulatory safeguards to ensure fair remuneration for farmers, raising concerns about corporate exploitation and worsening farmer indebtedness and suicides. The draft policy also contradicts itself by highlighting the failure of APMC repeal in Bihar, where market conditions deteriorated post-reform.

The push for corporatisation, including Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) and financialisation through Futures and Options Markets, further entrenches corporate control, potentially jeopardising food security, they said.

Additionally, the draft centralises power by proposing an “Empowered Agricultural Marketing Reform Committee” to enforce uniform reforms, undermining state autonomy and cooperative federalism. 

Joginder Singh Ugrahan, president, Bharatiya Kisan Union Ekta Ugrahan, said the meeting also discussed the agenda for uniting farmer organisations to fight a joint struggle on common issues. He was referring to the invite extended by SKM in its mahapanchayat on December 12 in Moga, Punjab, and the subsequent visit of leaders at Khanauri border, where farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal has been on fast unto death for over 54 days.

After the tremendous victory of their year-long struggle, leading to the government repealing the three farm laws, a few farmer organisations formed their own faction, known as the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) with the aim of contesting the Punjab Assembly elections in February 2022.

Ugrahan said, “We have written letter to the leadership of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha for a meeting on the pending issues on February 12, 2025 at Kisan Bhawan in Chandigarh. We are very much concerned about the new draft framework and its lasting impact on the agriculture and livelihood of farmers. We wish to know their opinion on the framework and whether it will feature in their priorities because the trajectory of movement will determine this bigger issue.”