Farmers from within Mawkynrew constituency have strongly objected to the hard bargaining by agents and middlemen over the price of cabbage.
“All these years we have been selling our cabbages at a rate ranging from Rs 5 to Rs 15, depending on public demand and the quality of our produce,” one of the farmers told reporters today. “But now some of the traders came and told us that all cabbages have to be sold at Rs 5, which is unacceptable.”
These middlemen have stopped buying the farmers’ produce for the past two days as a result of the disagreement. Some of the farmers were also unhappy for their local MLA, Banteidor Lyngdoh, who is also Agriculture Minister, for, they said, taking the side of the traders and not with the farmers, who are unhappy at having to do all the hard work and then being taken advantage of by agents.
With Covid restrictions in place, the farmers cannot so easily try and find avenues to sell their foodstuffs at the best price. They have requested the state government to free up travel and permit them to travel to Ïewduh themselves to sell their cabbages and other agricultural produce.
