Farmers of Kanthallur and Vattavada have been left in the lurch with Horticorp failing to procure vegetables for the past four weeks at a time when prices have dipped considerably.
P.T. Mohandas, president of the Kanthallur Cool-season Vegetable Marketing Farmers’ Society, the agency that procures vegetables from the farmers for the Horticorp, told The Hindu on Monday that most of the farmers had left the vegetables to rot in the farms as there was virtually no agency to procure them. The main crops decaying in the farms were cabbage, carrot, beans varieties, and garlic. He said it was not the low price that was worrying the farmers but the absence of an agency to procure the vegetables, as businessmen from Tamil Nadu too had developed cold feet.
There are 1,414 farmers under the society.
Krishnan of Perumala who grows vegetables on four acres said they could not harvest the vegetables unless there was an agency to procure them. There were many farmers going for menial work, leaving the crops to decay in the farms.
Bhagavathiappen, a garlic farmer, said there was a huge fall in the price of garlic and it was not being bought by businessmen. As the cost of labour was high, the garlic crop was not being harvested, faced as they were with a fall in quality and quantity owing to unexpected rain in the initial period of sowing.
Kanthallur has 350 hectares of land under cultivation this season. The farmers have to clear the farms for the coming season which is the main one. As much as 710 hectares of land will be under cultivation in the main season.
Things are not any different at Vattavada, though the area under cultivation this season is lower than that at Kanthallur. Murugesan, a farmer at Koviloor, said Horticorp procured vegetables only during the festival season, and this time the agency did not turn up at all.
The prices of vegetables sold at Kanthallur (per kg) are carrot – Rs.16 to Rs.17; cabbage – Rs.8 to Rs.9; green peas - Rs. 23; and garlic – Rs.40 to Rs.50.
