MP farmer forced to throw 100 crates of tomatoes

Bhopal: A farmer in Budhni town of Madhya Pradesh's Sehore district was forced to throw away his 100-crate stock of tomatoes, after he received only Rs 680 for it from the vegetable merchant.

A resident of Amon Village, the 26-year old farmer, Pappu received Rs 40 for each crate, thus totaling to Rs 4000, but Rs 3320 worth of expenditure deducted from it left with him with a net sale of merely Rs 680.

In the receipt from Thursday, shown by Pappu, it was seen that Rs 2500 for motor rent, Rs 500 for labour and Rs 320 for merchant cash was deducted from his gross sale.

Pappu said that he had left his studies after class XII to assist his father in the fields, and his hard work on four acres of land had resulted in optimum yield.

Pappu is not the only farmer to be facing this problem in the state that boasts of farmer-friendly schemes.

Another farmer from Amon Village, Brijesh Kumar (45) said that he had taken a loan of Rs six lakh for farming, and he too was forced to throw away his stock of tomatoes because of low returns. Kumar lamented that the lenders' pressure on him has left him with no option but suicide.

As told by Virendra, the area doesn't have a cold storage to preserve these perishable commodities which has resulted in this situation. He further alleged that his repeated requests to the state government has also failed to bear fruit.