MYSURU: The farmers are worried about the week-long lockdown in Bengaluru starting Tuesday night as they won’t be able to take their produce to the capital city. And any restrictions on the vehicular traffic from Karnataka to neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Kerala may push them to the wall.
In many places, there are no takers for brinjal, ladies’ fingers, pumpkin and cucumber. Kumar, a farmer, said that they have decided not to harvest radish and brinjal as they have to pay from their pockets to meet the labour cost. “I suffered losses in turmeric and tried vegetables only to land up in debt.
The Covid situation and fall in demand due to the cap on weddings and functions has given the edge to touts.” The onion growers too are in tears as they are selling it at throwaway price of Rs 5 to Rs 7 a kg. “How will the farmer survive if he sells onion at such a low price of Rs 7 per kg when he has to shell out Rs 4.50 per kg to labourers to harvest the crop?” asked Nagrajappa a farmer.
He said that they now have an additional job of finding a buyer because further delay would spoil the crop as it has no shelf life during the monsoon season. However, a few farmers knowing that they would end up in losses if they don’t find other means of selling the vegetables, have hired goods carriers to sell in street corners and reach out to the doorsteps in residential areas. Mohan, a farmer, said that due to the closure of hostels, hotels and mobile canteens, they have now turned to households.