No buyers, exotic veggies growers incur losses

“Broccoli which was sold between Rs 180 and Rs 250 per kg a year ago was now finding no buyers in Delhi. A few boxes were sold at a meagre Rs 5 to Rs 20 per kg. The rate is far below the cost incurred”. Manish Thakur, a grower.

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, April 24

The nationwide lockdown due to Covid-19 has forced growers to destroy their exotic vegetable crop in the fields in Chail valley of Kandaghat sub-division as there were no takers in the Delhi’s Azadpur market.

Vegetables like broccoli, Chinese Cabbage, lettuce, red radish, etc., which had caught the fancy of the growers for the last about a decade, were now finding use as animal feed and farm manure. The closure of the hotels and postponement of weddings has adversely hit their prospects this season.

“Broccoli which was sold between Rs 180 and Rs 250 per kg a year ago was now finding no buyers in Delhi. A few boxes were sold at a meagre Rs 5 to Rs 20 per kg. The rate was far below the cost incurred”, rued Manish Thakur, a grower from Raher village in Chail valley where their cultivation was a household affair.

The growers have been refused to sell broccoli, Chinese cabbage, etc., in the local markets as they emit a pungent odour after a day or two, informed Thakur.

He took to cultivation about eight years ago after the traditional crops failed to give much dividend. Like many others, he invested lakhs in erecting a polyhouse spread across 4,000 sq m. While on any other day a kilo would fetch Rs 40 to Rs 60. Lack of takers this year has ruined prospects completely.

“Harvested from March end until April when the markets are not supplied these vegetables from elsewhere, our crop had been fetching huge returns year after year prompting a large number of famers to opt for cultivation,” informed Thakur.

People here have not developed a palate for these items. After exhausting all options to sell, Thakur is destroying fully-grown cabbages grown over 2,000 sq m area which will be left to decompose as farm manure or fed to cattle.

Thakur said the state government should come forward and rescue the growers who had raised greenhouses by availing loans ranging from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh. He demanded that a year’s interest should be waived at least if no other measure can be announced as they have incurred total loss.

Growers from villages in Hinner, Dangheel, Jhajha, Kurgal, etc., said they were in a pitiable condition as some of them have raised their first crop after availing huge loans and government should come forward and extend some succor.