BENGALURU: Mango farmers in Karnataka are facing a backlash once again due to bad weather. Though the yield is comparatively better than last year both in terms of quantity and quality, a majority of their crop is damaged, leading to losses.
“This year, the mango buds were damaged due to the harsh winter heat in January and February. And when it started getting better, the sudden rain damaged the crops further,” shared Ajith Raj, a mango farmer from Gaurbidanur.
The fluctuations in the crop yield is not new to them, “It’s always unpredictable,” says Yeshwanth, a mango farmer from Kolar. “But the backlash everytime affects financial stability. Especially small-scale farmers who depend entirely on their mango yield,” he adds.
Farmers like Yeswanth thus sometimes shift to tomato and beans in order to adjust with the mango yield fluctuations. “Mango farming is like gambling,” he exclaims. “You don’t know what will happen, sometimes it might be going well, but suddenly you would be at a loss. But we are farmers, it is our profession, we cannot abandon it due to loss,” he said.
Farmers like Yeshwanth who are financially stable are able to meet the ends during such situations. But it’s the small scale farmers who always end up in trouble. “Small scale farmers cant leave farming because that’s the only job they know, they are farming for a very long time and situations like this put them in big trouble,” shares Bhaskar Reddy, a Mango farmer from Kolar. Moreover, these small scale farmers cannot replace their mango crops with others as their economic instability refrains them from shifting to a new crop, which includes a lot of money investment in terms of planting new saplings, wages for workers etc.
The farmers claim that they are often taken advantage of by the ‘mango mandis’. “The mandiwalas buy from us in bulk at a cheaper price and sell it to the customers at a much higher price, leaving us with a very small amount amidst the loss we are facing,” shares Bhaskar.
“I sell my crops for Rs 25 to 30 per kilo, whereas now the market price of 1 kg mango is Rs 140,” he adds. “Due to these Mango Mandis, most of the farmers are shifting to totapuri mangoes from which a lot of juice can be extracted. The farmers directly get in touch with the juice factories and end up getting a higher profit. If the situations remains the same, one day you won’t have any mango varieties left apart from Totapuri,” exclaims Yeshwanth.
“Government should come forward and help us in this situation,” says Yeshwanth. He requests for a minimum price for the mangoes for which the Mango Mandis must pay the farmers. “We are taken advantage of and when asked for more money they are not ready to take our mango , thus finally accepting the offer,” he adds.
“Many times, when the farmer’s are in a desperate need for money, they end up taking a huge amount of money from the Mandis, which ends us in a tender with the Mandi owners,” shares Krishna Sagar Reddy, a mango farmer. “Thus I directly sell my goods through government portals, where I can sell my crops at a good price,” he adds.
The farmers also request the government to increase the insurance amount, as most of the time the insurance money does not payback for the losses they have faced. While slogans like Jai Jawan and Jai Kissan are said, many times it just becomes a phrase of fascination. Sometimes mango tastes like exploitation and being forgotten.