KOCHI: Despite the best efforts of the state government in achieving self sufficiency in vegetable production, farmers have been at the receiving end this Onam. Heavy rain that lashed the state over the past three months have destroyed crops and shattered their hopes of fruitful harvest.
While integrated farming has helped increase the area under cultivation, there has been a decline in output.
However, the agriculture department says most of the demand for Onam will be met with domestic production, with only a few items such as big onion, shallot, tomato, potato, okra, etc., being purchased from other states.
The department will organise 2,000 vegetable markets across the state from September 1-4 to ensure availability of vegetables at reasonable rates. Of these, 1,074 will be organised by the department, with Horticorp and Vegetable and Fruit Promotion Council Keralam (VFPCK) holding 764 and 162 respectively.
Horticorp will purchase 1,700 tonnes of vegetables for its Onam markets, of which 500 tonnes will be procured directly from farmers and 1,200 tonnes from suppliers.
Around 300 tonnes of big onion have been procured from Pune. VFPCK will procure 272 tonnes of vegetables, with 191 tonnes purchased from farmers. The vegetables will be sold at a 10-20% discounted rate.
The state government has provided `65,000 for each market of which Rs 50,000 is for procurement and `15,000 to meet infrastructure costs.
Horticorp and VFPCK procure the bulk of cool-weather crops such as carrot, beans, cabbage, potato and garlic from Vattavada and Kanthalloor. However, production has been poor this year due to intermittent rains and increased infiltration by wild animals, including elephants and Indian gaur.
Attappadi will meet nearly 75% of the shallot required for Onam markets this season. Shallot farming introduced in Attappadi on an experimental basis has been a huge success, said VFPCK Palakkad district manager Bindumol.
While districts such as Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha, Thrissur, Idukki and Malappuram have recorded a steady increase in vegetable production, Palakkad leads in the state with 6,000 tonnes of output this Onam season.
The Elavanchery Swasraya Karshaka Samithi in Palakkad has sold vegetables worth Rs 11 crore. There are 230 farmers under the samithi and 85% of them cultivate vegetables on leased land.
“Production has been low this year and many farmers have suffered huge losses. Continuous rainfall for 65 days destroyed the crops,” said samithi president P V Prasad.
“I cultivate bitter gourd, snake gourd, ash gourd, pumpkin, long beans and ridge gourd on 20 acres of land. My family owns eight acres of land and we leased another 12 acres. Last year, we sold vegetables worth `1 crore, but this year production is down around 30%. Traders from Pollachi and Coimbatore also purchase our products regularly,” said R Sivadasan, who recently bagged the Haritha Mitra Award.
“Production has been low this Onam and we are staring at a huge loss. If the rains subside we will be able to earn some profit during the second season. I cultivate vegetables like bitter gourd and snake gourd on my 10 acres of leased farmland. Last year, I managed to sell vegetables worth `1 crore but this time returns have not been encouraging,” said C R Padmanabhan, another farmer.