Amra Bangali farmers form new committees and demand industry status for agriculture. Party leaders highlight unfair crop pricing, rising input costs, corporate dominance, and call for stronger cooperatives to protect farmers’ livelihoods and ensure sustainable agricultural growth.
Amra Bangali farmers and agricultural workers intensified their push for structural reforms in the farming sector with the formation of new committees at a state-level conference held on Sunday. The newly constituted bodies include the Bengali Karsak Samaj and the Shramajibi Samaj, both operating as wings of the Amra Bangali Party.
Following the conference, newly appointed office bearers, along with party supporters, staged a protest to highlight long-pending demands related to agricultural sustainability and farmers’ rights. Among those leading the movement was Bimal Das, secretary of the Bengali Karsak Samaj, who emphasized the urgent need for policy intervention to protect farmers from economic exploitation.
Advocate Rajib Chowdhury, senior party leader and chief of all five wings of the Amra Bangali Party, accused successive governments of neglecting the agricultural sector. He stated that farmers continue to suffer due to the absence of assured procurement prices for most crops, leaving them vulnerable to market fluctuations and middlemen.
Chowdhury further alleged that the growing influence of foreign corporations and corporate-backed online trading platforms has weakened traditional rural markets. According to him, this shift has severely impacted small traders and marginal farmers, reducing their bargaining power and income stability.
Highlighting rising production costs, Chowdhury pointed out that fertilizers, pesticides, seeds, and farm machinery are largely controlled by multinational companies, making farming increasingly unaffordable. He added that inadequate cold storage facilities and insufficient irrigation infrastructure force farmers to sell their produce at distress prices, while large companies reap substantial profits.
| Also Read: West Agartala Police Recover 30 Lost Mobiles Using CEIR Technology |
Speaking to the media, Bimal Das outlined key demands, including granting industry status to agriculture, ensuring fair and minimum procurement prices for all crops, reducing the cost of agricultural inputs, and strengthening farmer cooperatives for processing, storage, and marketing.
Party leaders asserted that recognizing agriculture as an industry would help attract investment, modernize infrastructure, and provide farmers with long-term economic security.
