Drastic fall in the price of red sorghum or jowar has caused panic among farmers as it will not help them recover even investment costs on the crop. The fall of price from the last year’s Rs.4,800 per quintal to Rs.2,100 this year, shocked them.
Short-lived joy
Farmers accuse that the traders formed a cartel to rig the price for their advantage and appeal to the Government to come to their rescue to ensure a profitable price of Rs.4,000 per quintal. Their happiness over the bumper harvest disappeared as soon as the crop was brought to market.
Red jowar used for fodder for cattle in North India is mainly grown in Nandipet, Armoor, Balkonda, Velpur, Morthad, Kammarpally, Bheemgal, Jakranpally and Darpally mandals in the district. The crop is planted in 45,000 to 50,000 acres every year in these mandals and it is not grown anywhere in the country in such a vast extent of land.
M. Ganga Reddy, a farmer in Sirikonda mandal deplores that traders are cheating the farmers not only in the price but also in weighing. They remove at least 10 kg under the pretext of waste in every quintal and when the farmer questions they refuse to purchase, he says.
Apart from Governments of Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarath, Bihar, Chattishgarh, Delhi and Maharashtra private persons from there also buy the produce. Generally, they do not come to market, but their local agents do the transactions on behalf of them. They purchase the crop on credit and make farmers to revolve around them for payment.
Poor track record
They also have a bad track record of becoming defaulters after paying a certain amount.
“Last year I had sown red jowar and lost Rs.94,000 as the trader who purchased paid in installments. Therefore, this year I did not plant the crop. In fact, traders are due to pay about Rs.7 crore arrears to farmers,” said Taher Bin Hamdan, farmer and DCC president.
Meanwhile, Armoor division farmers are urging the Government to appoint a special officer to oversee the crop purchases and create special markets for red jowar and turmeric. They have also suggested to bring about a comprehensive seed Act to protect the interests of farmers.
