Chittur (Palakkad): With the COVID-19 outbreak affecting the market, the price of crops nosedived. Facing huge loss, Samapath, a farmer at Mankappallam in the eastern region of the district, tilled the brinjal farming in 5 acre land using a tractor.
When the produce is taken to the market, the price is fixed by the merchants. They also do not buy more than a certain quantity of crops. Earlier, the merchants from Pollachi used to buy the crops produced in the area. Now the crops cannot be taken to Pollachi due to travel restrictions.
As brinjal started perishing, Sampath used 5 tonnes of brinjal as fertilizer for coconut trees. When he found the loss unmanageable, he decided to till the field completely. Sampath said that he is going to start coconut farming after this.
About 90 percent of the vegetable farmers in eastern region are struggling due to the COVID-19 lockdown crisis. "The benefits given for paddy farmers are not provided for vegetable farmers. The government is treating farmers differently," said Ramkumar, a farmer.
Meanwhile, Horticorp authorities said that vegetable crops are procured in the eastern region, but they cannot procure in large quantities. This affects the farmers who cultivate crops on a large scale.
