TIRUCHY: Vegetables farmers of Marungapuri taluk complain of losses from spice and vegetable spoilage as the 100-metric tonne cold storage facility at the regulated market in the taluk is yet to be put to use. Urging the officials to make use of the facility, the farmers said they have no other option but to sell off their produce in haste to avoid losses, making it difficult for them to cash in on fluctuations in vegetable prices.
R Raju, a tomato farmer from the Marungapuri taluk, told TNIE, "We often end up selling the vegetables at meagre price due to the lack of a cold storage facility. We are not able to store our produce and wait to cash in at the right moment when the price shoots up. The price of tomato went down by Rs 1 per kg this year; it is not sold at Rs 4 per kg. However, it is sold at Rs 20 per kg in the markets. If the cold storage facility was put to use, we could have waited until the price skyrockets."
The chillis produced at a large scale in the Marungapuri taluk are sent to Dindigul and other districts. Since chillis get spoiled in a day or two, the farmers are left with no option but to sell their produce in haste, rues K Vijay, a chilli farmer. Officials of the Agriculture Business and Marketing Department, speaking to TNIE, said the government has no provision to manage the storage facility available at the regulated market; hence, a farmer who could afford to lease out the facility should come forward.
Sources of the horticulture department said the taluk lacks the Uzhavar Sandhai required to sell the crops produced at a large scale here. About 1,500 hectares of horticulture crops are cultivated in the taluk, out of which 800 hectares are chilli; the remaining cultivation comprises fruits and vegetables, the sources said.
They said the cold storage system under the marketing department needs to be leased out on a monthly basis for it to be in operation. P Ayyakkannu of the Desiya Thenninthiya Nathigal Inaippu Vivasayigal Sangam said, "Middlemen often fleece money from the farmers who are put in a spot due to the unavailability of a storage facility. They have no other choice but give it into immediate market prices. Private traders tend to cash in on this situation."