Lemon farmers loss heavily amid price drop

 Nellore: Scarcity of water coupled with frequent failure of monsoon and steep fall of in prices are forcing lemon farmers in the district to quit the cultivation and switch to alternative crops.

During the last three months, lemon market in Gudur and Podalakuru wore a deserted look due to lack of business transactions following steep fall in lemon prices.

The markets in Podalakuru and Gudur will export acid lemon to Delhi, Kolkata, Nagpur, Mumbai and Chennai during peak season. This year lemon prices drastically fell from Rs 6,500 of a 700 kg bag in last year to Rs 1,500 this year.

“I never saw such an adverse situation during my 30 years of lemon trade. Last year during the same season, exported lemons in 20 to 25 trucks to other States. But this year, we couldn’t export even 10 trucks due to the drastic fall of lemon prices,” Atla Prabhakar Reddy, lemon trader in Podalakuru market lamented while speaking with The Hans India.

According to official sources, lemon cultivation is taken up in dry land areas in Podalakur, Gudur, Kaluvai, Saidhapuram, Venkatagiri, Dakkili, Balayapalli, Rapur and other 10 mandals in the erstwhile Nellore district. About 75,000 farmers are cultivating lemon crop under borewells and canals and traders run over 50 shops in both Gudur and Podalakur markets.

Pasupuleti Muni Kishore, lemon farmer from Podalakur town, stated lemon farmers incurred huge losses this time due to a significant crash in prices. A 70 kg lemon bag, which was sold at Rs 6,500 to Rs 7,000 last year, is now being sold at just Rs 1,500 in the market, he said. Though cultivation cost hiked from Rs 75,000 to Rs 2 lakh due to phenomenal rise in pesticides prices and high labour wages, we are getting meagre profits, or sometimes nothing at all, he pointed out.

A lemon wholesale trader bemoaned that business this time drastically came down to Rs 10 crore from Rs 60 crore due to various reasons, including lack of support price, increasing road transport.