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Horticulture farmers hit hard by imports
Each time Ram, a software engineer, picks up a few Kiwi fruit from a plush super market in Himayatnagar, several horticulture farmers in Nalgonda, East and West Godavari and Guntur districts are affected in one way or the other. Kiwi is the fastest growing exotic fruit in India with growth rate of over 80 per cent annually. In 2016-17 alone foreign fruit imports touched close to 4.5 lakh tonnes at
Hyderabad: Each time Ram, a software engineer, picks up a few Kiwi fruit from a plush super market in Himayatnagar, several horticulture farmers in Nalgonda, East and West Godavari and Guntur districts are affected in one way or the other. Kiwi is the fastest growing exotic fruit in India with growth rate of over 80 per cent annually. In 2016-17 alone foreign fruit imports touched close to 4.5 lakh tonnes at a cost of Rs 4,000 crore.
According to Sarampalli Malla Reddy, Vice-President of All India Kisan Sabha, “Several farmers who grew citrus fruits on purpose destroyed their plants in Nalgonda, Guntur, West Godavari and East Godavari as they were unable to secure even input costs. But, as much as 30 per cent of citrus fruits in the market were imported.”
Foreign fruits started making their way into Indian market since 2005 and the trend has kept growing rapidly. Narsimha Reddy, former MLA, Nalgonda said, “30 per cent of the produce goes waste and if the Horticulture Department could curb this by way of providing cold storage and warehouse facilities, the plight of farmers could be addressed.”
Fruit cultivation spreads over 10,052 acres in Telangana State and the production is 46.74 lakh tonnes. Explaining the harmful effect of imports, Malla Reddy said, “Fall in prices, change in cropping pattern had led to fall in incomes for farmers. Farmers no longer evince interest and stop farming altogether.”
With Reliance, Tata, Birla, Adani, ITC entering the fruit sector and supermarkets such as cash and carry, Reliance, Food World, Metro, Reliance Fresh, More, Haryali and others stocking foreign fruits, native fruits are being pushed behind, avers Krishna Reddy, a lemon farmer.
Absence of full-fledged cold storage facilities has proved a bane of horticulture farmers. There are 1,400 cold storages and warehouses in the two Telugu States, but not a single one is allotted for storage of fruits. “If the farmer can get a minimum support price and the government ensures he does, the import of foreign fruits can be tackled,” said Malla Reddy.
Commission agents have been ruling the roost and their stranglehold should be broken.” he added. In the meanwhile, import of foreign fruits such as Rose Apple from New Zealand (add Kiwi). Ruby coloured grapes from USA, Sweet Tamarind from Thailand are growing by almost 40 to 60 per cent by the year.
