Subabul comes to rescue of Gadwal farmers

​Gadwal: Fed up with continuous loss with conventional corps like corn, paddy, groundnut and cotton, the farmers in Jogulamba Gadwal district have now turned to subabul for a better profit. 

The subabul plantation has become one of the most sought- after crop for the Gadwal farmers. “During the past three years, the Gadwal farmers had frequently  faced losses due to nature’s fury However, with the Forest Department created awareness among the farmers on the benefits and good profits of growing subabul, majority of farmers had chosen subabul plantation and have been reaping good harvest and earning good profits,” said Prakash, District Forest Officer Gadwal. 

Majority of farmers from Rajoili, Mnavapadu, Vaddepally and Itikyala mandals have been growing Subabul over an extent of more than 15,000 acres in the district. Helping the farmers with the subabul plantation and providing all the necessary inputs for its cultivation, the District Forest officials are regularly holding meetings and providing all the necessary crop management information to the farmers. 

Last year the Forest officials distributed more than 4 lakh subabul plant saplings to the farmers free of cost as part of the Haritha Haaram programme. “Unlike in our conventional crops, where we incur huge input costs and the returns were also meagre the Subabul plantation crop has come as a big saver for the farmers. With less input costs we are able to get good profits for Subabul cultivation,” said farmers who achieved good results from Subabul cultivation. 

In the initial days, the farmers earned a good profit as they could produce a good yield of 30-40 quintals an acre and each quintal was sold at Rs 4,000 in the market. However, this year the subabul farmers have expressed the fear that the traders may drastically cut down the price to Rs 2,500 a quintal. If so, the farmers would incur loss to Rs 50,000 on an acre. 

This year a total of six lakh quintals of subabul production is estimated and if the market prices for the crop falls, then the farmers are worried that they would lose more than Rs 90 crores overall. 

However, the District Forest officials still want to help the farmers by distributing more subabul plants free of cost. But they express inability to ensure that the farmers get minimum support price.