Fact Check: Video showing farmers dumping tomatoes on roadside not linked to repeal of farm laws
A news bulletin by Asianet Malayalam showing farmers discarding tomatoes in Karnataka is viral on social media with the claim that the incident took place after the farm laws were repealed by the Central government.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 6 Dec 2021 3:52 AM GMT
Hyderabad: A news bulletin by Asianet Malayalam showing farmers discarding tomatoes in Karnataka is viral on social media with the claim that the incident took place after the farm laws were repealed by the Central government.
It is being claimed that the farmers will now be able to understand the importance of the farm laws after they were scrapped on 1 December.
The claim reads, "In South India, brokers are not giving the right price for tomatoes to the farmers. They are giving 75 paise per kg. That's why farmers are throwing tomatoes on the side of the roads. There is a shortage in north India due to touts. The importance of Modiji's farm laws will be understood by all.." (translated)
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Fact Check
The claim that the video is linked to the repeal of the farm laws is false.
The official video by Asianet News in Malayalam is dated 15 May. The dateline clearly indicates that the video is not linked to the recent Farm Laws Repeal Act which was passed on 1 December. Video reports by Amar Ujala, One India News, and TV 10 News Telugu containing the same visuals were also uploaded in May 2021.
The reports are based on the distress farmers faced in Karnataka in May 2021. Tomato farmers in several parts of Kolar dumped crates of tomatoes by the roadside after prices crashed to as low as ₹2 to 3 per kg in the district's Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees (APMC) market.
Farmers were struggling to get the produce into the market and felt it was not worth the effort as they were not even able to cover the cost of labour and transportation due to the price crash. They had cultivated tomatoes over large tracts and were expecting a good price but due to a few uncertainties caused by the imposition of lockdown in May as well as retail outlets shutting down, it led to excess produce thus resulting in dumping of tomatoes on the roadside in Kolar district. (Source: Indian Express and The Hindu)
Evidently, the viral news bulletin by Asianet Malayalam showing farmers discarding tomatoes in Karnataka is from May 2021 and is not linked to the Farm Laws Repeal Act. Thus, the claim is false.
