Vegetable farmers in Idukki find the going tough

Ryots in villages such as Kanthallur and Vattavada face lack of proper marketing system to sell produce

Even as the government announced steps to increase production of cool-season vegetables, farmers in villages such as Kanthallur and Vattavada in the district face the lack of proper marketing system to sell their produce. They claim that the prices they receive are often below one-third the market prices and that there is no proper procurement of vegetables by the Horticorp. Also, there is a lack of timely payment to the two societies to which the farmers sell their produce, they say. Many farmers who had abandoned vegetable cultivation returned to it during the pandemic. There was a government scheme to uproot grandis cultivation and promote vegetable cultivation in the two villages. However, it appears that farmers prefer grandis cultivation as it is less risky. Sojan P.G, secretary, Kanthallur cool-season vegetable cultivation farmers’ marketing society, said that Horticorp had not paid ₹11 lakh due for the three-year period till 2020. The society paid the money from its own funds to the farmers and had to stop procuring vegetables from the farmers, he said. There are nearly nearly 700 farmers under the society.