GUNTUR: As the price of lemons have plummeted for the second consecutive year, worry lines have deepened on the faces of lemon farmers in the region. Though lemons are produced throughout the year, the season is usually at its peak from March to June. Though the season started favourably for the farmers, the prices suddenly decreased from Rs 100 to Rs 8 per kg. Around 5,500 farmers, who produce lemons in 2,600 hectares mostly in Atchampet, Bellamkonda, Tenali divisions in Guntur district.
Though the harvest was good last year, there were hardly any profits for the farmers due to the Covid-19 lockdown. They could barely cover their costs. This year, though there are no restrictions on transportation, the farmers still haven't managed to end up with profits as the yield was not as good as last year coupled with plummeting lemon prices. Such was their condition that they couldn’t even afford to pay labour charges. Ramarao, a farmer from Tenali, said, “No one has expected that the prices will decrease suddenly. If I harvest the lemons now, I will not get a good price and also I cannot afford to pay labour charges. Due to this reason, farmers haven’t harvested their crop.”
Usually, about 200 tikkis of lemons (one tikki contains 50 kg of lemons) are produced per acre. A farmer spends between Rs 50,000 and Rs 60,000 per acre on pesticides, maintenance, and labour charges. The lemons produced in the region are transported to Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra from market yards in Tenali, Narasaraopet, and Sattenapalli.