Fall in price of vegetables, particularly tomato, cabbage and beetroot that are widely cultivated in Talavadi Hills, are worrying the farmers as they were unable to recover even the production cost for cultivating vegetables.
Agriculture is the major activity that provides livelihood for the people in the hilly area that is located 120 km from Erode and borders Karnataka. Tomato, onion, chilly, potato, turnip, ginger, cauliflower, cabbage, beans, brinjal, beetroot, carrot, radish, garlic and banana are widely cultivated by farmers in their small holdings in over 35 villages at Talavadi. Vegetables are taken to the seven mandi’s where price is arrived by auctioning and the successful bidder transports the produce to markets in Erode, Coimbatore and Kerala.
But many farmers say that they are not getting right price for their produce ending up in loss. “Production cost for a kg of tomato, cabbage and beetroot comes to ₹ 5. But traders purchase it for ₹ 3 to ₹ 5”, says Kanagaraj of Soosaipuram. “Since there is no cold storage facility here, we are forced to sell our produce at a price fixed by traders, he says and added that tomato is even procured for ₹ 1 from them at times.”
Also, vegetables arrive in large quantities from Chamrajanagar, Chikola and Bandalli, all in Karnataka where adequate water is available. Price for our produce is fixed by traders and not us, says another farmer Balan. “We cannot transport our produce to markets in plains and hence we sell beetroot for ₹ 2 a kg”, he added. Absence of cold storage facility, lack of provision for converting vegetables into value added products, arrivals from Karnataka and poor pricing are affecting the farmers.
Another farmer S. Manickam wanted the district administration to establish a regulated market at Talavadi so that vegetables are procured at a reasonable price every day. He sys that many farmers without harvesting tomato and beetroot are ploughing their land to avoid further loss. “A tomato sapling cost sixty paise, while production cost including fertilizer, labour cost and maintenance for 60-days cost over ₹ 5. But one kg tomato is procured for ₹ 1”, he said and wanted a permanent solution for the perennial problem.
Farmers say that price of vegetables will shoot up only after two months when the production drops. “Even when tomato and cabbage is sold at ₹ 50 and ₹ 30 a kg respectively in retail market in May, it is procured at less than ₹ 20 and ₹ 10 a kg”, Mr. Manickam added.
