Keonjhar: Vegetables produced in hilly regions of this district have great demand in urban markets, even as tribal forest dwellers, who cultivate the crop, hardly benefit.
Moreover, they end up resorting to distress sale while smart traders who procure the produce from the tribals, earn good margins in urban markets, it was learnt.
A major reason for the high demand for such vegetables is that these are grown without using fertilizer; so they taste better and are sold at piece rate, a traditional system of hawking.
Cashing in on the opportunity, unscrupulous traders buy most of the vegetables at throw away prices, giving a lump sum amount to tribal farmers.
The practice not only deprives the consumer of good quality seasonal vegetables, but also denies tribal farmers a return that is commensurate with the labour they invest.
It is alleged the innocent forest dwellers are taken for a ride by the traders in the absence of marketing facility of hilly vegetables.
The dishonest urban vegetable vendors mostly cheat the tribals in weight and price of the produce, a retired administrator Kumarmani Tanti said.
According to reports, vegetables like okra, greens, lauki, bitter gourd, snake gourd, pumpkin, papaya, banana and varieties of mushrooms are grown on the hills only during rainy season.
The forest dwellers toil hard to raise these vegetables. They clean the low lying patches of the hill having water-holding capacity to produce these vegetables and come to the town expecting a few extra bucks. They follow shifting-cultivation method for better yields every year, said Ramchandra Nayak, a tribal farmer.
According to the method, the farmers leave the land barren for two to three years to allow the leaves and stems of wild trees lying on the ground to turn into compost, so as to enhance the soil fertility.
After raising crops on the fertile patch, they again leave it uncultivated for another three years. However, they hardly get the benefit of their hard work, lamented many tribal farmers.
The traders usually procure the vegetables from farmers while the latter are on their way to markets.
The prices of the hilly vegetables are rising due to such profit-mongering traders, said a local Sanatan Sahoo. The administration should protect the interests of forest dwellers and keep the price rise in control, locals said. PNN