Mumbai: Farmers called off their two-day strike after a five-hour meeting with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis that ended early on Saturday following serious negotiations.

The talks with leaders of Kisan Kranti core committee, an umbrella organisation of farmers’ associations, led to 70 per cent of their demands being met by the government.

Fadnavis later told mediapersons, “We are open to a farm loan waiver and shall set up a committee for the purpose which will include farmers’ representatives and take a decision by October 31.”

He said loan waivers, as demanded by farmers, would be extended to small and debt-ridden farmers who were outside the institutional credit system.

A bill will also be tabled in the coming monsoon session of the state legislature to make purchase of agricultural products for less than the minimum support price a criminal offence. An agriculture costs and prices commission, like that at the Centre, would be set up to study minimum support price.

Farmers in the state have for long complained about selling their produce at less than the cost price.

The state has also come up with a scheme to subsidise farmers’ electricity bills. Cold storage facilities and warehouses would also be set up.

However, even though the strike was called off, the prices of vegetables and fruits had doubled and tripled since trucks and tankers carrying farm produce were not allowed to reach various towns and cities since farmers had come out on the highways to protest on Thursday and Friday. They stopped trucks and destroyed the farm produce by dumping on roads and also let milk from tankers flow out.

Most wholesale markets remained shut and are expected to do so over the weekend. The supply at the Agriculture Produce Market Committee in Navi Mumbai restarted but it is likely to remain shut on Sunday.

With the severe shortage, prices soared — tomatoes which was Rs30 a kilo earlier rose to Rs180, coriander from Rs30 a bundle to Rs80, cauliflower from Rs50 a kilo to Rs100 while prices of fruits, too, shot up.