Traders oppose private parties entry in agriculture

Lucknow, Aug 4: National Traders Federation has announced to observe a strike in all the Mandis of Uttar Pradesh on August 14 protest against the Mayawati government's decision on allowing contract farming by giving a free hand to big retail houses.

The Federation has also written to the UP CM to withdraw the new agricultural policy announced yesterday as it will directly affect 10 million traders and their families in the state.

The traders union, supported by several political parties, will also hold demonstration inside Parliament on August 14 against the shopping malls and the entry of big retail outlets in the country.

Federation's chairman Banwari Lal Kanchal said all the whole sale markets and mandis would observe a total strike on August 14 against the new agriculture policy of the UP government.

''The new policy will lead to slavery as only a handfull of big retailers would capture the entire market'', he said adding that this will lead to unemployment in the country.

He also made it clear that the policy will not benefit the farmers as they are not a part of the agreement. Beside this, the contract farming had been a failure in several countries, he further claimed.

UNI