Farmers have sought an assessment of crop loss and wastage across Karnataka due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the absence of such a move, they fear that the real distress of the agrarian community will not be recognised.
This mainly pertains to perishable commodities such as vegetables and fruits, as the chaos and lack of coordination during the initial days of the lockdown, announced on March 25, saw large-scale wastage of produce.
A. Nagaraj of Raitha Mitra, a farmer-producer company, said they were just dealing with 50% of the total production while the remaining crop lay waste in the fields. The company procures vegetables directly from farmers and trades with customers, thus avoiding middlemen. “But things are far from normal and vegetables and fruits are wasting away in the fields,” he said.
Despite the crisis, Raitha Mitra has so far transported 134 tonnes of fruits and vegetables after directly procuring them from farmers, ensuring a turnover of ₹34.5 lakh and easing the woes of cultivators, said Kurubur Shanthakumar, founder of Raitha Mitra.
Raitha Mitra gets calls from farmers for a way out as many have reaped a good crop but are hesitant to incur additional cost on labour and transportation when returns are not assured.
Twin factors
The loss and wastage was due to two factors. In the first stage, and during the initial few days of the lockdown, harvested fruits and vegetables which reached the APMC marts for sale did not have wholesale buyers as there were no trucks to transport them to different parts of the State and the rest of India.
As a result, there were scenes across Karnataka of cultivators dumping their produce on the streets. Tomato farmers were among the worst affected when the buying rate plummeted to less than ₹5 a kg. More than 200 tonnes of tomato was dumped and lay waste at the APMC yard in Mysuru alone in the first week of the lockdown. Once the farmers realised that the delay in transportation had forced commission agents to suspend trading and that they were not getting remunerative prices, harvesting activity also was stopped. For, the cash-strapped farmers realised that harvesting their crops would only add to their net loss.
Later on, the fate of tomato cultivators came to haunt those engaged in the cultivation of fruits. Bountiful rains resulted in a bumper production of fruits, including muskmelon, watermelon, grapes, and mango, for which there are no takers owing to the pandemic.
The crop loss and wastage of fruits and vegetables was not less than one lakh crore tonnes, according to Mr. Shanthakumar, who said that in the absence of assessments, the losses incurred by farmers would remain masked.
