Realty boom squeezes veg supply to city

MAHBUBNAGAR: Real estate boom in the neighbouring districts of Mahbubnagar, Rangareddy and Medak has taken a toll on Hyderabad — the city is witnessing shortage in vegetables supply as acreage has shrunk. Smitten by the ‘realty’ riches, vegetable growers in these districts,who cater to the Hyderabad market, are now selling away their farm land at a premium, thus causing a supply shortage.
The situation is so grave that while vegetable cultivation in the mandals of Mahbubnagar abutting Hyderabad has seen a decline of 70 per cent in the last three years, it’s 60 per cent in the case of Rangareddy district mandals located within 30-40 km from the capital.
“The sudden realty boom is keeping the ryots away from vegetable cultivation. The farmers are selling away their land to build huge houses and invest in other businesses. Little wonder vegetable cultivation has come down drastically,” a senior agriculture official rued. Vegetables were cultivated in 72,000 acres in Amangal, Shadnagar, Kothur, Kadthal and Kothapet in Mahbubnagar. But that was in 2007. Six months ago, it declined to 23,000 acres. All these mandals are located 50-70 km from Hyderabad.
According to joint director, agriculture, G Vinay, there was a time when special RTC buses were operated from Charminar, Afzalgunj, Kothapet and Mehdipatnam to these mandals to fetch vegetables like tomato, chilli,brinjal, carrot, bittergourd and cauliflower to Hyderabad. “But not any more. Now, Hyderabadis have to depend on other districts for these vegetables,” he said.
What is worrying the agriculture officials is the total lack of interest among vegetable farmers to grow the crops as most of them are keen to invest in buying land after selling away their farm land.