Sweet lime farmers incur loss of about 500 crore in Anantapur

Anantapur: Sweet lime farmers in the district incur a loss of about Rs 500 crore this year as purchasers from metro cities fail to turn up to purchase the produce from farmers due to lockdown imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Sweet limes are widely grown in all the 63 mandals in the district which has about 1,00,000 acres of sweet lemon gardens, with 5,000 to 10,000 acres in each mandal. It is the principal crop in Ellanur, Putlur, Tadipatri, Garladinne, Kalyandurg and Kuderu.

Every year sweet limes sell between Rs.50,000 to Rs.65,000 per tonne. But in present season, the prices had dipped to an all-time low of Rs.15,000 to Rs.10,000.

Tati Reddy popularly known as Bush Reddy hailing from Marthadu village in Garladinne mandal said to 'The Hans India' that he had incurred nearly Rs. 1 crore loss as he could not harvest the crop of sweet lemons as labourers are reluctant to come forward for harvesting due to corona pandemic. Moreover, the purchasers are also not coming forward to purchase the fruits from farmers. The buyers come from cities like Bengaluru, Chennai, Calcutta and Mumbai.

He says that state government has been claiming that they have made arrangements for transportation of horticulture produce. But the government is only arranging transport to sell the produce in the local market at a throw away price. Even in Anantapur, farmers were seen indulging in distress sales. The farmers in the district have lost more than Rs.500 crore due to the lockdown imposed to curb Covid-19 disrupting social and economic life of the people.