Baragada: Brinjal growers in Baragada district are facing heavy losses as farmgate prices have plunged to Rs 4-5 per kg, leaving farmers struggling to recover even harvesting costs despite a good crop.
The crisis has raised concerns over inadequate marketing facilities and cold storage infrastructure for perishable produce, even as the state government urges farmers to diversify from paddy cultivation to other crops. Farmers in Samakata village under Sohela block said prices had fallen sharply from the initial Rs 20-30 per kg.
Tejaraj Sa, a farmer from the village, said he had cultivated brinjal on three acres and obtained a good yield. However, the price crash had made the harvest financially unviable. “At this rate, we cannot even recover the cost of harvesting the brinjal,” he said.
Another farmer, Balaram Pradhan, said he had cultivated brinjal and pointed gourd on 1.5 acres, investing Rs 25,000-30,000 per acre. Traders were refusing to buy black brinjal, while green brinjal was fetching just Rs 4-5 per kg, he said.
Pradhan alleged that farmers were being encouraged to shift from paddy to vegetable cultivation without adequate arrangements to market their produce. As a result, large quantities of brinjal are rotting in the fields, adding to farmers’ financial distress.
The state government has advised farmers in areas with out assured irrigation to use deep borewells exclusively for non-paddy cultivation. However, growers said the lack of reliable market linkages undermined efforts to diversify agriculture.
Farmers have urged the government to intervene, establish proper marketing facilities and compensate growers affected by the price crash.
