Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Farmers are facing significant financial losses in horticulture due to a variety of factors, primarily post-harvest losses. These losses are expected to be ₹20k crore.
The main causes include inadequate infrastructure for storage, handling and transportation, market constraints, and poor practices. Similarly, market constraints and price volatility are also major reasons.
Many farmers have limited access to markets and face price fluctuations, forcing them to sell their produce at lower prices.
Improper handling during harvest, storage and transportation can lead to physical damage and deterioration. Even recovery transportation costs and commission for ‘Arhatiya’ (middle men) of Mandi, who play key role between buyers and sellers in mandis, farmers are not getting.
Now, farmers as mark of protest over the huge loss, are either releasing their cattle in field to graze or dumping fruits in fields instead of plucking and transporting to mandi for markets.
Various crops like tomatoes, watermelon, cauliflowers, cabbages, bottle gourds, green chilies are being sold in market in urban areas at through away prices.
Best quality tomatoes cost ₹10 per kilogram, watermelon costs ₹15 per kilogram, green chili cost ₹20-Rs30 per kg, according to markets. If this is rate in market of cities, at local level prices are much below it. So farmers are not getting proper costs.
Farmer Kedar Sirohi said, ‘The government should take initiatives to ensure profit for farmers who are incurring huge loss in horticulture crops like fruits and vegetables.
Loss is expected to be over ₹20k crore in MP.’ Farmer Vridhi Chand Patidar said, ‘I had planted 12k saplings of watermelons and spent ₹1.62 lakh but managed to get hardly ₹90k. At field, it costs Rs 2 per kg, ₹7 per kg in Mandi and ₹15 per kg in market.’
Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) Kamal Anjana said, ‘It is pathetic condition for famers that they are not getting profit and even agriculture cost. It is huge loss up to ₹20k crore for them in Madhya Pradesh.’
