Trichy farmers fear price crash if dam row continues
Posted by Labels: Catastrophe and Disaster, Dam, Flood, India
(Times of India) The Mullaperiyar dam issue has made farmers anxious in Trichy district, the largest banana producing region in the country, as the harvest season is fast approaching. Farmer P T Rajagopal, who recently retired as a village administrative officer at Lalgudi says that in the Srirangam belt, 40% of agricultural land is under banana cultivation. "The harvest will take place in a couple of weeks from now. If the Mullaperiyar issue is not solved by then and lorry services between the two states are not peacefully resumed, our plight would be unbearable," said Rajagopal.
More than 90% of the mature banana including the Nenthram variety (suitable for making chips) is transported to Kerala from this region, and the rest goes to Maharashtra. Moreover, if the banana fields were to receive any rainfall in this time between its harvest in a couple of weeks, the raw banana would ripen in heat generated from the earth, making it unsuitable for export. This is the fear that has gripped most farmers in the region as the Mullaperiyar issue does not show signs of abating.
Furthermore, the Trichy banana market is already dull in the winter season and a bunch that would normally sell at Rs 150 was being sold for as low as Rs 40 during the rains. On the contrary, Rajagopal said that a kilo of banana would sell at Rs 10-16 a kilo, and a 15kg bunch would easily fetch them a price of Rs 150-180. Viewed from another economic angle, should there be a problem in transporting the banana - whether it is the yazhipoo, poovan, rasthali, or pachanadan variety- they would not even fetch Rs 20 a kg in the local market, Rajagopal said.
It costs at least Rs 50,000 to cultivate banana in one acre and a farmer expects the same amount as profit from the10-month crop. Banana, sugarcane and paddy are cultivated in the 600 sq km agricultural land in Vayalur, Mullikurumpur and Pettavaithalai in Srirangam taluk. Sugarcane finds an easy market in the Kaatoor and Pettavaithalai sugar factories, in addition to satisfying the Pongal market while the paddy can be sold at government prescribed rates to the civil supplies corporation. However, the banana remains a marketing problem. At a time when Kerala's banana-chips producing cottage industry is getting a high-tech makeover, farmers are praying for a safe passage of their harvested produce.
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