Sweet orange farmers seek govt help

Anantapur: Sweet orange farmers in Anantapur district are on the verge of committing suicide without rains and minimum support price and also government help.

Anantapur is one of the most backward districts in the State and also suffers from scanty rainfall Zone and yearly drought occurrence. Sweet Orange crop, one of the major crops in the district, will be cultivated in 9,111 acres in Guntakal, Gooty, Pamidi and Peddavaduguru mandals.

Farmers have to invest Rs One lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh per acre and have to protect the crop from day one till last day for a period of five years. Mite pests and micronutrients deficiency will make the plants dried up from roots.

Farmers complained that during the YSRCP government’s tenure, agriculture department officials reportedly failed to educate them about this crop and steps to be taken to prevent pests.

Even if they got the yield, farmers lament that they are incurring huge loss due to lack of fair price in the market. They said that the price of sweet orange fell from Rs 50,000 or Rs 60,000 to less than Rs 12,000 per tonne.

The farmers said that they will be pushed into debt trap and would be forced to end their life if the government fails to provide remunerative prices to their yield. They are requesting the government to conduct awareness programmes on sweet orange cultivation by Horticulture department officials on the prevention of pests affecting the crop. Also, they requested the government to provide minimum support price to the crop, without the involvement of middlemen.