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Traders force farmers to make distress sale of red chillis
Owners of cold storages were denying space to farmers to store their red chilli crop due to severe crunch in the market price for the commodity. Therefore, the farmers were forced to make a distress sale of the commodity and hence would not be able to derive advantage from the Rytu Bandhu scheme.
Lack of storage space leaves hapless farmers take weak step
Warangal: Owners of cold storages were denying space to farmers to store their red chilli crop due to severe crunch in the market price for the commodity. Therefore, the farmers were forced to make a distress sale of the commodity and hence would not be able to derive advantage from the Rytu Bandhu scheme.
Under Rytu Bandhu scheme, farmers can store their commodities in the cold storage up to six months and sell it when the market is bright for them. Meanwhile, they can also avail 75 per cent of the total value of the commodity towards loan.
The owners of cold storages allegedly hand-in-glove with the traders are not allowing the farmers to store the red chilli. However hard the farmers pleaded with owners of the cold storage, offering them to pay more money than the stipulated Rs 133 per quintal, the cold storages’ owners are turning down the offer.
In fact, there are 18 cold storages in and around Yenumamula market yard, the biggest market yard in Asia. The capacity of each market yard is to store at least one lakh bags of red chillies, turmeric and so on.
The red chilli price dropped to Rs 3,500 per quintal from Rs 12,000. The agitation by farmers for the just price for the commodity went unnoticed.
While some of the farmers made a distress sale, some others preferred to adopt a ‘wait and watch’ attitude by keeping the commodity in cold storages. As a ploy, the traders have booked cold storages giving no scope for the farmers to store their produce. As a result, the farmers have no option except to make a distress sale.
When Market Committee Chairman Dharmaraju was approached for his clarification, he said that he had held negotiations with the cold storage owners and asked them to reserve 30 per cent of the space for farmers.
The farmers, who store their commodity in the cold storage, are entitled to get Rs 2 lakh interest-free loan under the Rytu Bandhu scheme. He vowed to take disciplinary action against management of cold storages if any facility denied space to the farmers.
By: V Ajay
