Separate vegetable market for farmers sought

Melkote MLA K S Puttannaiah on Friday demanded separate market for vegetable growers to sell their produce without the interference of middlemen.

Addressing farmers at a meeting organised by Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Hasiru Sene on Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) premises in Bandipalya here, the MLA said vegetable growers are suffering huge losses because of the exploitation by middlemen.

Brokers are looting the farmers, he charged. The Centre should fix uniform prices for vegetables across the country, to bail the growers from crisis situation. The farmers should be able to determine the prices for their produces, he said. He also urged the state government to strengthen Horticultural Producers’ Co-operative Marketing Society (HOPCOMS) across the state.

Farmers produce 250 million tonnes of food grains and vegetables, every year. But, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has failed to introduce appropriate food security policy, he alleged.

Puttannaiah set a deadline of one month to the government to address the problems faced by the farming community at APMCs. Tomato growers expressed their anguish over crash in prices and irregularities at APMC. The farmers alleged that if a box of tomato weighs 30 kg, the brokers calculate for only 26 kg.

Shadakshari, a farmer from Duggahalli, Nanjangud taluk ,complained that the brokers ignore them if they question the fraud.