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Wearing masks, farm women turn up for work to a groundnut farm near Kothapatnam, in Prakasam district.   | Photo Credit: KOMMURI SRINIVAS

Lockdown presents mixed fortunes for Prakasam farmers

Paddy, Bengal gram, maize growers saw gains, while tobacco and chilli cultivators faced hard times

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It was a mixed bag of fortunes for farmers in Prakasam district during the lockdown imposed to combat coronavirus.

While growers of, among other crops, paddy, Bengal gram, maize, as also vegetables and fruits made a killing, those who cultivated export-oriented crops of tobacco and chilli found it hard to market their produce.

Thanks to good demand for the principal food grain crop, the farmers, especially those coming under the Krishna Western Delta, got a premium price for their produce.

While the minimum support price was ₹1,360 for 75 kg of paddy, farmers sold it at over ₹1,400. Before the lockdown, they were forced to sell their produce between ₹900 and ₹1,000 only, a group of farmers in rice-rich Swarna village said in a conversation with The Hindu while showing the empty giant traditional storage devise.

High demand for paddy

Farmers who used to take the trouble of taking their produce to the State-run procurement centres earlier were able to liquidate the stock at their doorstep itself, as private millers vied with each other to purchase paddy.

Prior to lockdown, the market price for Bengal gram variety ‘JJ 11’ was ruling below ₹3,500 per quintal.

After the lockdown was imposed, price of the principal commercial crop grown in about one lakh hectares saw a hike.

“We were able to get a better price of ₹4,500 per quintal,” said K. Koteswara Rao, a farmer from Inkollu.

Though the price of maize, a key ingredient for poultry feed, dipped to about ₹1,200 initially in the wake of outbreak of coronavirus pandemic, the farmers could sell the cereal crop at a fair price of about ₹1,700 per quintal, explained CPI(M)-led Kavulu Rythu Sangam State president N. Ranga Rao.

A dampener

However, tobacco growers were in an unenvious position as the lockdown coincided with the peak of the marketing season.

Though the e-auctions started on an encouraging note in Southern Light Soil(SLS) on February 17, the closure of the platforms for most part of the lockdown period put paid to their hopes of getting a remunerative price for their produce, as exporters shied away from the market on the pretext of lack of confirmed orders from overseas buyers in view of global economic downturn.

As a result the market witnessed about 30% fall in the prices over the ones prevailing before lockdown was enforced, lamented a farmer leader V.V.Prasad.

Labour shortage

The chilli growers, who faced a daunting task to complete the harvest in view of the labour shortage after imposition of lockdown, are also keeping their fingers crossed after putting their produce in cold storage units as the main market for the export-oriented crop in COVID-19 hotspot of Guntur remained closed.

Those lacking stock carrying capacity, especially tenant farmers, parted with their produce for about ₹8,500 per quintal as against the price of ₹15,000 in usual times.