KALLAKURICHI: A drop in procurement price has spelt losses for papaya farmers of villages in the foothills of Kalvarayan Hills, Chinnasalem and Sankarapuram.
Encouraged by less water requirement, minimum workforce for harvesting, many farmers in Pottiyam, Mayambadi, Malliyambadi and Kottakarai villages, Melnariyapanur and Thenponparapi near Chinnasalem and some areas of Sankarapuram are involved in papaya cultivation.
While they used to make decent profit earlier, heavy losses have incurred since the procurement price have drastically dropped following the coronavirus pandemic.
"The yield of other fruit crops is high between the Tamil months of Chithirai to Aadi (April to August), and they don't fetch good returns in that season. But papaya sells for good prices in all seasons. On an average, 50,000 kilograms of the fruit is harvested from one acre of land and is sold for Rs 7-8 per kilogram. On average, we make Rs 3.5-4 lakh. We still used to make profit deducting the cost for buying saplings, wages for ploughing, planting, maintenance and finally the harvesting," said K Raja, a papaya farmer from Thenponparapi village.
The farmers said they got a procurement price of only Rs 1-2 per kilogram during the lockdown. Dejected as the price did not even cover the expense for harvesting, many left the fruits to ripe and rot on the trees. Even after the lockdown was relaxed, the price did not pick up much, and the fruit is now sold at Rs 3-4 per kilogram. Still, some farmers have left the fruits on the trees as they could not find buyers.