In the wake of the sharp rise in Covid-19 cases, the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) has suspended trading in Gujarat. This has left farmers in the lurch. They are sitting with a pile of harvested Rabi crops.
An official from APMC, Rajkot, announced the suspension of investing activities until further notice. The Rajkot yard is a prominent market yard and a chief place for the trading of cumin (jeera), castor, pulses, groundnut, cotton, onion, potato, and wheat.
Farmers are worried
The suspension has come as a blow to farmers because they were waiting for the government to procure wheat. As one farmer from Khamta village of Rajkot puts in, "I have about 50 quintals of unsold harvested wheat lying in my fields. We are in need of income, but the marketplaces are shut until further notice. It is an uncertain scenario and we are clueless what to do.
In North Gujarat, the APMC yard in Unjha announced voluntary lockdown for a week looking at the rapidly rising positive cases in the area. According to a statement from the Unjha APMC, "In perspective of the present outbreak scenario, a conference was convened by the civic authority of Unjha city with Unjha traders' association and current market yard agents' association. It was collectively determined to voluntarily shut down the APMC yard from April 14 to 21.
Others APMCs that have shut down as of now include Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Mehsana, Amreli, and Morbi.
The shutting down of APMCs is bad news for the farmers, as this is the peak of wheat harvesting season. The market will be flooded with produce and this would disrupt the prices.
