Chennai, November 15( IANS)
A slump in demand due to the recent rains and harvesting under way simultaneously in neighbouring states are causing heavy losses for banana farmers in Thanjavur as they say traders offer as low as Rs 6/kg for their harvest.
While they are used to witnessing low demand during the rainy season, they add the procurement price was better in previous years.
In the delta district of Thanjavur, dominated by paddy cultivation, banana serves as a key cash crop for farmers. It is cultivated on 11,000 acres in areas including Tiruvaiyaru, Kaduveli, Panaiyur, Vadugakudi and Tirukkattupalli which are irrigated by the Cauvery, Kudamuruti and Vennaru rivers. Most farmers in the area cultivate the ‘poovan’ variety as its leaves also fetch income.
While mentioning their produce having fetched up to Rs 30/kg last month, “when there were festivals like Ayudha Pooja”, M Mathiyazhagan, a banana farmer from Vadugakudi, said, “The procurement price, however, has fallen to about Rs 6/kg to Rs 7/kg now.”
“Last month we sent loads of bananas even to states like Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka. But now traders even from other districts are also not turning up,” he added.
He blames commencement of harvesting in Karnataka and AP now for traders from such states keeping away from visiting Thanjavur this month.
While the demand for bananas comes down significantly during the rainy season, the procurement price did not fall this steep, he says. “Last year during the rainy season we got at least Rs 15/kg while we get at least Rs 20 to Rs 25 per kg otherwise,” Mathiyazhagan added.
Echoing his views, P Sukumaran, a farmer from Melathirupoonthurthi, said the price fall has led farmers to leave the bunches in the tree itself.
“At the present price we will not even recover the cost of planting a tree, let alone the expenses for cultivating this crop with a duration of 10 to 12 months,” he added.
Meanwhile, P Tirunavukkarasu, a commission agent from Tiruvaiyaru who trades in banana, said there has been a slump in demand due to rain in many places in Tamil Nadu and neighbouring states over the past few days. As we couldn’t move the load, there is a fall in the price, he added.
Sukumaran urged the government to consider inclusion of bananas in the breakfast scheme being implemented in schools and the installation of small-level cold storage in order to address the issue.
