Despite good yield, COVID-19 casts a shadow on its sales
The sweet lime growers in Mukundapuram are in a deep trouble despite the yield being very good due to continuous availability of irrigation water, as COVID-19 cast a shadow on sales of the most sought-after fruit for instant recharge with its juice during summer.
Grown in over 2,000 acres in this village alone in Garladinne mandal, which has one of the largest chunks of land dedicated for this crop, farmers were buoyant after failure of the crop in 2018 and 2019 due to shortage of irrigation water. Sweet lime, which was sold up to ₹60,000 a tonne in May 2019, is now being sold at ₹6,000 to ₹8,000 a tonne. By a very conservative estimate, if the farmer gets ₹18,000 to ₹20,000 per tonne, he can recover his investment.
The Telangana government is going all out to bail out sweet lime (mosambi) farmers who are facing hurdles in selling their produce. Several key decisions to help sweet lime farmers were taken at a crucial official review at LB Nagar market on Tuesday.
The Minister also directed Horticulture director Venkatram Reddy to talk to juice factories in Jalgaon and Nanded in Maharashtra. The possibility of sending sweet lime stocks to juice factories will be explored. Marketing officials would also speak to sweet lime farmers in Kurnool and Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh to find out what marketing strategies they have adopted.
The Minister called upon film stars to put out messages to popularise regular consumption of sweet lime juice. Niranjan Reddy asked the farmers not to pluck the crop at this time as the lockdown is continuing till May 3. Education Minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy assured that word would be put out in colonies and gated communities in Hyderabad, encouraging people to consume more sweet lime to build their immunity against Covid-19.
Corona threat
Traders from Sirivella in Kurnool district are the regulars at this village, but they are absent in the wake of high number of COVID-19 cases in that district and closure of Hyderabad and Bengaluru markets. Majority of the growers lost the plantation in hundreds of trees in 2019 due to lack of water.
