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Private buyers offer good price to cherry growers

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Kuldeep Chauhan

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Tribune News Service

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Shimla, May 26

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After initial despair amid the novel coronavirus outbreak, cherry and plum growers are now fetching good price for their produce.

Growers say the price of cherry per kg has increased to Rs 130 to Rs 200 (depending upon variety) as private buyers, including Big Basket and Reliance, are buying the produce directly from them.

Initially, the growers in the lower altitude were forced to sell the fruit at Rs 60 per kg to Rs 150 kg as there were no buyers here, said Satish Balaik, president of the Bahli cooperative society, Kotgarh.

However, after they approached private buyers, cherry was now being sold at Rs 250 per kg for the top variety as its demand had picked up in cities, he added.

The growers also appreciated the efforts of the State Agricultural Marketing Board for facilitating the arrival of buyers at the farm gate.

Sources said cherry production this year was 50 per cent less than that of the last year, with the prices initially declining to a depressing level. The growers were forced to dump the fruit in orchards itself.

They alleged that the HPMC had failed to start the hydro-cooling facility for the transportation of the cherry. “Cherry is a perishable fruit and the hydro-cooling facility was a must,” said farmers.

MD of the board Naresh Thakur said they were monitoring private buyers and had started APMC mandis at Dhalli, Bhattakufar and Parala, where cherry growers were getting good prices these days.

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