The tomato farmers in the three districts of Barwani, Shivpuri and Ratlam, are facing problems due to the chaos in farm mandis amid lockdown. Here the truckloads of harvested produce have been stuck over the last few days. It is facing the risk of rotting in the heat.
PK Swain, Joint Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Government of India, got connected with the Madhya Pradesh Principal Secretary, Agriculture, Ajith Kesari, and the Managing Director of the Mandi Board, Sandeep Yadav to resolve the problem.
Knowing the matter, the Madhya Bharat Consortium of Farmers Producer Company in Madhya Pradesh, assured that a pass would be issued for farmers to ensure that their trucks reach Bhopal without any problems.
The Consortium plans to transport the first load of 15 tonnes of tomatoes to Bhopal from Barwani, a distance of 200 km, tomorrow. Taders in Barwani pay only ₹5-8 for a kg of the produce to farmers, & in the Bhopal local market, tomatoes sell at ₹30-35/kg.
The FPO will incur a cost of ₹3-4/kg for transporting the tomatoes to Bhopal. But the Producer Organisation is still happy as it intends to sell the tomatoes for ₹20/kg.
Now, potato farmers from the Tarana block of Ujjain district in Madhya Pradesh are also planning to reach out to the Collector for curfew passes to reach the tubers to the city where they will be sold.
Source: Hindu Business Line
