While more than half of the farmers be against the new agricultural laws, both supporting and opposing farmers are not fully aware of the laws, according to a survey release. A face-to-face survey conducted by Gaon Connection in 53 districts of 16 states to find farmers’ perception of the new laws found that every second respondent opposed the three laws, while 35 percent farmers supported these acts. Of the 52 percent opposing the laws, more 36 percent were not informed about the details of these laws. Likewise, of the 35 percent supporting them, almost 18 percent were not informed about them, the survey says.
The survey found that largely 67 percent farmer respondents were aware of the recent three agricultural laws. Meanwhile, two-third was aware about the recent farmers’ protest in the country. Awareness about such protests was more among the farmers in the north-west region, which includes the states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Least awareness was reported in the east region including West Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh where less than half or 46 percent were aware about recent farmers’ protest.
The biggest fear of these new agricultural laws among the respondent farmers of 57 percent is that they will now be forced to sell their crop produce at a lower price in the open market, while 33 percent farmers fear the government will end the system of minimum support price (MSP). As many as 46 percent respondent farmers said they thought the three bills will lead to big corporate or private companies exploiting farmers. Further, 39 percent respondents felt that because of the new agricultural laws, the mandi system/APMC will collapse in the country.
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