Palakkad: The farmers are in crisis as the price of okra nosedived. When okra is priced Rs 20 in shops, the farmers get only Rs 5 per kilogram.
“We have been working hard for two months. Rs 35,000 was spent till harvest. But we got only Rs 5 per kilogram from market,” said Ranganathan, a farmer in Vadakarapathy.
The farmers managed to produce vegetables despite the Covid crisis. But they were put in crisis due to the exploitation of the middlemen. The price of okra was at Rs 22 until a month ago. But after Vishu, the price started going down.
Also the price of bottle gourd and ivy gourd dropped recently. Last month, ivy gourd cost Rs 25 and bottle gourd’s price was Rs 12, but it dropped to Rs 5 and Rs 4 respectively. Only long beans and raw banana are getting a fair price, the farmers said.
The surplus production and arrival of vegetables from Tamil Nadu resulted in the sudden price drop. Vadakarapathy agriculture officer V Alexis said that actions have been initiated to procure okra from farmers fixing a support price.
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