Harvest is plenty but returns poor: Farmers

Madurai: Farmers, who cultivated shallots and coconuts in many parts of the southern districts, are a unhappy lot this festive season, as there has been a drastic fall in prices of their produces compared to last year, which helped them gain good margins.
For instance, shallots, which were selling at Rs 60 per kg few months ago, have now crashed to an all-time low of Rs 10 per kg in the wholesale market and hovering between Rs 20 and 25 in the retail market this month affecting farmers greatly.
According to K Sethumadhavan, a farmer from Kamudhi in Ramanathapuram district, as soon as they noticed that the monsoon was good this year, they bought quality seeds for Rs 80 a kg and started cultivation of shallots. "Nature didn't defy us and we had a bumper harvest, but that has resulted in the prices plummeting to as low as Rs 10 in the wholesale market," he said.
Many farmers like him who cultivated in many places in the district including Perunazhi, Pothampuli, Ranisethupuram, Thimmanathapuram, Thuthinatham, Pappureddypatti and Pudhugramam, are now facing heavy losses, as the prices are much less than what they invested in the crop. They said the only solution for this is that the district administration should to set up procurement centres to help the farmers and also encourage them.
In Madurai, however, the price of shallots was maintained at Rs 30 in retail. Abu Backer of Avaniapuram, who sold it for Rs 30 per kg on Thursday, said, "It is the festival season and the prices will remain high."
Another section of farmers who are facing a similar situation faced by shallot farmers are the coconut growers in Theni, Dindigul and other southern districts. After a long drought period, they received a bumper crop as a result of the good monsoon, due to which prices have gone down compared to the last two years.