Covid hits vegetable, fruit growers hard, despite bumper crop

With timely rainfall and favourable climatic conditions, vegetable and fruit growers have reaped a bumper crop, this time. But still, the farmers are facing hardships, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Fruits and vegetables have ripened. A bumper crop of tomato, pumpkin, etc are ready for harvest. But, labour shortage, transport problems and falling demand due to the coronavirus lockdown, have pushed hundreds of farmers into distress.

Besides destroying the crops, the farmers have left them on their fields, without harvesting. A section of the farmers have urged the organisations helping Covid patients and poor people, in need of food, to pick the vegetables and fruits to help them.

A farmer, Shantappa of Bilikere said that he has grown tomatoes. "The yield is a good. But, there is no demand. I have not harvested the crop on four acres of land. I am ready to give away the yield to the organisations helping people during the pandemic," he said.

Another farmer, Chandrappa, who has cultivated pumpkin, said that his product has no demand in the market. "I will not earn even the harvesting charges. Thus, I am ready to give away the vegetables to needy people at minimum price, so that it helps me as well as the people," he said.

The pandemic has prompted the government to announce a package to bail out fruit and vegetable growers. However, the farmers are not happy with it. They demand a suitable compensation and urge the authorities concerned to conduct a thorough survey of loss.

The government has announced an one-time assistance of Rs 10,000 each to flower growers per hectare loss. It benefits about 20,000 farmers in the state. In addition, the government has announced Rs 10,000 each to fruits and vegetable growers, limiting it to one hectare.

Flowers have no demand in the pandemic, due to a decline in devotees visiting temples. Ceremonies like marriages, auspicious occasions like festivals, jatramahotsava are also cancelled. The demand for flowers from abroad has also stopped.

Economists welcome temporary economic packages for farmers during this pandemic. The lockdown resulted in lack of demand for fruits, vegetables, flowers and people, especially labourers of the unorganised sectors, are hardly earning. A few people are afraid of contracting the virus and venture out only once in a week for shopping, said Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Karnataka State Open University R H Pavithra.

The farmers have incurred a huge loss and the government has to lend support to them as they are the backbone of the economy. With the government putting unnecessary burden like price hike on chemical fertilisers, the farmers need more support during pandemic. Financial burden will be more on small farmers, compared to medium and large farmers. The price hike will definitely have an impact on productivity too, he said.