NALGONDA: Farmers in the erstwhile Nalgonda district, the hub for 90% of the state’s lemon cultivation, are facing severe hardship as copious rains this year have led to a sharp drop in their prices.
The farmers are lamenting that the current prices do not even cover labor and transportation costs.
A bag of lemons (containing 500 to 700 fruits), now fetches between Rs 200 and Rs 300 for ripe, yellow lemons, and a mere Rs 100 to Rs 200 for green ones. This is a steep fall compared to the corresponding period last year when it was between Rs 1,200 and Rs 2,000. Prices have been declining steadily for the past two months.
Lemons are cultivated in approximately 35,000 acres in undivided Nalgonda district with Nakrekal constituency being the largest producer, covering mandals like Nakrekal, Chityal, Narketpally, Ketepally, and the adjacent Shaligouraram. Farmers transport their produce to the Nakrekal lemon market, spending about Rs 100 per bag on transportation, only to receive a price that barely exceeds Rs 200.
M Raju, a trader from the Hyderabad lemon market, told TNIE that copious rainfall across the country this season has made it difficult to export lemons to states like, Karnataka, and Odisha. He said that a shipment to Delhi takes three days, and the lemons spoil due to the rains, leaving them unfit for export.
Farmers are also grappling with skyrocketing input costs. T Narasimha Reddy, a farmer told TNIE, that the cultivation cost for 100 lemon trees goes up to Rs 2 lakh, excluding labour, due to the mandatory use of expensive pesticides (costing up to Rs 3,000 per litre) for pests like leaf miner, scab, and mite. He added that they sell them to consumers in the open market during the monsoon at five to six fruits for ten rupees.
