Lemon farmers of Nellore district in distress due to sudden dip in prices

Nellore: Lemon farmers in the district are facing tough time due to the decreased prices. Now, a kilogram of lemons is available at Rs 7 in the market giving a nightmarish experience to the farmers. It was a week ago around Rs 25-27 per kg and suddenly the prices dropped due to the decreasing temperatures. Temperatures are now hovering between 20 and 24 and the changes due to heavy rains are impacting the consumption leading to the poor market.

Earlier, during the second quarter of year, they faced severe problems due to Covid pandemic and farmers couldn't harvest lemon crop failed to export the stocks to the markets. The sudden announcement of lockdown and the consequent restrictions due to the spread of Covid cases finally resulted in huge losses to the farmers of around Rs. 100 crore this year.

Lemon has been grown in around 20,000-22,000 hectares this year and a major chunk of around 10,000-12,000 hectares of gardens in the Gudur division. Gudur and Podalakur lemon markets are popular in the district where the majority of production comes from the Gudur division.

"The situation of the market was encouraging till a week ago. The prices were at Rs 25-27 per kg and now they dipped to Rs 6-7 giving disheartening experience to the farmers. They are unable to sell even in the local markets and the prices are not comfortable for export. So, they have to either to dump in the gardens or to sell at the prices whatever are available," said N Venkateswara Reddy from Podalakur.

They say the price of lemons per kilogram should be around Rs 20-30 in the market during this season but they are selling quality fruits at Rs 7-8 per kg. There are huge stocks of lemon fruits in the gardens and farmers are facing huge losses, he added.

Normally, farmers get 8-10 tonnes of lemons per acre during the season and they are leaving the fruits on the trees fearing the burden of transportation costs which would be an additional burden.