BMC and farmers need to collaborate

Over the years, the BMC has had a generally acrimonious relationship with farmers who have accused it of offering below par prices for beasts delivered. Farmers and their associations have fought hard for legislative changes enabling them to export both live and processed beef. The farmers decried the BMC's monopoly and its imposition of below market prices.

Even with the BMC's adoption of export parity prices, farmers still claimed that instead of passing on its export successes on producer prices, the BMC was withholding these good fortunes.  The bitter relationship has been evident in the perennial under-utilisation of capacity at the BMC's abattoirs due to low supply by farmers. And in a vicious circle, this under-utilisation has often translated to deficits in the BMC's books, preventing it from improving producer prices.