Athagarh and Banki areas in Cuttack district are known widely for large-scale vegetable production. From here, vegetables are sent to the cities of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar besides adjoining areas.
But now, these farmers are in dire straits as their vegetables do not fetch their due prices. Sometimes, the vegetables lie unsold due to lockdowns in Cuttack and Khudha districts following the Covid-19 guidelines.
The vegetables like parwal, bitter gourd, snake gourd, papaya, lady's finger, brinjal, coccinia, cucumber, pumpkins, sweet potato, ridge gourd, spinach etc are produced in large quantities and these are not transported to Cuttack and Bhubaneswar cities due to lack of transportation and limited time of opening of the vegetable markets and the local markets.
So farmers don't want to pluck the vegetables from their fields as according to them even they are not able to get the price for plucking labour charges. Some being vexed have left their farm fields for grazing of the cattle animals. Since no cold store is here, the farmers don't wish to be engaged in vegetables farming any more.
Susant Pradhan, a farmer of Chereipatna here, said that recently he along with three other labourers plucked two sackfull of lady's finger from his field and took the same in his motorcycle to Athagarh market for selling, but he could only earn Rs 120. Annoyed, he has stopped plucking the vegetable anymore. He said he would rather do wage work where the minimum wage per day is Rs 400 than do vegetable farming.
As the farmers of the area are suffering a lot due to distress sale of their vegetables, the Government should solve it by procure the vegetables fixing a reasonable price, urged the farmers.