During the first half of the lockdown, we saw how the pineapple farmers of Kerala struggled for help from the government to harvest the crop. The drop in vegetable prices had adversely affected the farmers in Kerala.
Farmers in Palakkad are destroying the brinjal crop grown on three acres of farmland due to the low price of the product in the market.
The destroyed three acres of land had hybrid brinjal. Everything was ready to harvest but because of the low income, the farmers decided to destroy all the crops.
Right now, when a farmer sells his brinjal to the retailer, he only gets Rs 150 for a 25kg sack of brinjal, or about Rs 6 per kg. This is much lower than the Rs25 per kg customers are being charged in his area and Rs 35 per kg in Palakkad town.
To reach a break-even point, he will need at least Rs 15 per kg, because of the labour charges, vehicle rent and commission for the agents.
The farmers say that they have already complained about this to the horticulture and agriculture department but in vain.
Horticorp had announced that it would buy from farmers any crop that remained unsold, according to the district manager.
The farmers have already raised demands ranging from waiver of interest on loans to restructuring of all loans without interest up to two years. They want landowners to reduce lease rates and provide more time to make payments.
Even though the government is planning to convert all fallow lands into farms as part of the Kerala government's flagship program 'Subhiksha Keralam' to combat food scarcity in the state. There are many farmers who are facing this kind of problem due to lockdown.
