Bengaluru: Vegetable farmers to face huge loss due to unexpected lockdown

Mysuru: The farmers in the state are worried about the new lockdown in Bengaluru city starting on Tuesday night as they won't be able to take their produce to the capital city. Any restrictions on the vehicular traffic from Karnataka to neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Kerala may push them to the wall.

In many places, there are no takers for brinjal, ladies fingers, pumpkin and cucumber. "We have decided not to harvest radish and brinjal as we have to pay from our pockets to meet the labour cost. I suffered with huge loss in turmeric and tried vegetables only to land up in debt," says Raghu, a farmer.

The onion growers are also facing trouble as they are selling it at throwaway price of Rs 5 to Rs 7 per kg. "How will the farmer survive if he sells onion at such a low price of Rs 7 per kg when he has to give Rs 4.50 per kg to labourers to harvest the crop?" asked Nagrajappa a farmer.

Speaking on this, Somesh, a farmer said, "We are having an additional job of finding a buyer because further delay would spoil the crop as it has no shelf life during the monsoon season. Due to the closure of hostels, hotels and mobile canteens, we have now turned to households."

However, a few farmers knowing that they would end up in losses if they don't find other means of selling the vegetables, have hired goods carriers to sell in street corners and reach the doorsteps in residential areas.