PALAKKAD: Farmers of Elavanchery Self Finance Farmers Sangam near Kollengode here have come out against Horticorp for not procuring their vegetable produce. The unit which started harvesting from June at its 300 acre cultivable land has till now sold vegetables worth Rs 4.3 crore out of which Horticorp had purchased only vegetables of Rs 5 lakh, president of the unit T.V. Prasad told DC. “On Friday, snake gourd of one-and-a-half tone could not be sold to either private wholesalers or Horticorp and we were asked by officials to take it to the nearby markets,” he said.
He also noted that while snake gourd was sold at Rs 7 by the farmers, it was sold for Rs 28 at markets in Kollam and Kottayam. Besides snake gourd, bitter gourd, beans, pumpkin, lady’s finger among others are being produced by the sangam. Prasad said that on Sunday all the harvested vegetables were sold, but there was uncertainty over the marketing of their produce in the coming days and Horticorp should be more proactive in addressing the issue of the farmers in the regions.
Meanwhile, Horticorp MD Dr Ranjan S Karippai has released a press statement saying that even though there was over production in the farming units in the districts from Kozhikode to Thiruvanathapuram in recent days, the organisation would purchase all the produce and as directed by the farm minister V S Sunil Kumar would give them away free to orphanages, old age homes and similar institutions and to the customers visiting Horticorp outlets. Agriculture experts are of the opinion that the state needs to come up with a production schedule for vegetable farmers to deal with the issue of over production in the coming years.
