Anantapur: Lifting curbs on transportation rekindles horticulture farmers hopes

Anantapur: Horticulture farmers in the district are thanking the District Collector Gandham Chandrudu and horticulture officials for coming to their rescue by permitting the transportation of horticulture produce including bananas, tomatoes, watermelons, mangoes, grapes, flowers and vegetables to metros during the time of restrictions across the country in the wake of outbreak of coronavirus pandemic.

During the past five days, an extent of 9,695.5 tonnes of horticulture produce had been transported to metro cities including Delhi, Bengaluru, Vijayawada, Hyderabad and other northern states. Bananas to the tune of 7,885 tonnes, tomatoes 460 tonnes, flowers 2.4 tonnes, grapes 28 tonnes, mangoes 75 tonnes and vegetables 230 tonnes were transported to various places from the district.

Amarnath Reddy, a tomato farmer from Kalyandurg, told The Hans India that at a time when tomatoes had been poured out on the streets in places like Madanapalle and Tirupati owing to curtailing of goods movement, the district administration move had really helped them a lot. The farmers were also on the verge of suicide due to the damaged produce and impending gloom caused by corona lockdown and staring indebtedness.

The government intervention kindled hope and brought smiles on faces of farmers. The District Collector issued an order for movement of goods of perishable and non-perishable horticulture produce and directed the police to allow free passage of vehicles carrying horticulture produce.

The order also permitted harvesting of fruits including guava 2,200 tonnes, papayya 42,300 tonnes, lime 1,248 tonnes, oranges 1.20 lakh tonnes, tomato 75,000 tonnes, onions 900 tonnes and chillies 3,000 tonnes.

The district has horticulture crops in 2.02 lakh hectares while the total produce is 58 lakh tonnes of multiple fruits.

Herds of lorries are reaching horticulture farms to transport the harvested produce to states including Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and other northern states. But for the timely intervention, hundreds of crores worth would have been damaged adversely affecting the economy of thousands of farmers and livelihoods of lakhs of farm labour. A control room has been opened with the joint coordination of police and horticulture officials.

Any one facing difficulties from the police, can call control room -08554275805 or toll free number 1902 for redressal of their grievance.