TIRUCHY: With hopes of witnessing a profitable season, farmers have begun banana plantation work across the district. Despite suffering a major blow during the previous season, the area of cultivation from last year is likely to be retained this season too, officials said. Farmers are urging the officials to improve sales platforms to tackle the prevailing price issues.
Banana has been the second-largest cultivated crop in Tiruchy district. However, due to multiple reasons, including a decline in market prices and natural calamities, the area under cultivation witnessed a reduction over a decade from around 8,000 hectares to 7,000 hectares in 2018, and further down to 6,100 hectares in 2019.
With the season being decent in late 2019 and early 2020, farmers slightly increased the area of cultivation in 2020 to 7,000 hectares. What was expected to be a successful season, however, ended as a major disappointment when the lockdown pushed them into huge debt.
Mathialagan of the Tamil Nadu Banana Farmers Association, said, "With a majority of the shops closed due to the lockdown, all banana products, including fruit, leaf and other sub-products lost market for nearly a year. While the price of a banana bunch has come down below Rs 20, the leaf price hit rock bottom of just 50 paise per piece. Putting the farmer at a major loss, many gave away the crop -free and some had left them on the trees. Approximately, a farmer ran into a loss of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 3 lakh."
Official sources from the Horticulture Department said that despite being considered a failed season among farmers, the demand for bananas in the export sector remains prominent. The Kattuputhur exclusive banana sale centre reportedly fetched a profitable price even during the lockdown. Thus, the officials said, that farmers are likely to stick to banana cultivation this year as well. However, the plantation works are being carried out at a slower pace than usual.
Anand, a banana farmer, said, "A lack of platforms to sell has been our major concern in the previous season. Though the Kattuputhur market offered some opportunity for us, it needs more promotion among traders. Over the current sales, only a handful of traders are showing up for auction. We request action to be taken to attract more traders, aiding farmers to get a profit."