Tomatoes bring tears to Kolar farmers this poll season

At Rs80 per crate of 15kg, Tomato is threatening to bring tears in the eyes in this poll season for the farmers in this drought prone district.
Tomatoes being unloaded at the Kolar Agricultural Produce Market Committee yard
Tomatoes being unloaded at the Kolar Agricultural Produce Market Committee yard

KOLAR: Waiting for his truck load of tomatoes unloaded at the Kolar Agricutlure Produce Market Committee(APMC) yard, one of the largest in Asia, is worried despite harvesting a bumper crop. As the price for the day is announced disappointment is writ large on his face. At Rs80 per crate of 15kg, Tomato is threatening to bring tears in the eyes in this poll season for the farmers in this drought prone district.

Good showers last monsoon had brought cheers for the farmers who had suffered consecutive years of drought. "We can make some profit only if the price of tomato crosses Rs150 per crate and the price today will leave me incurring loss. With more farmers set to bring their produce to the market in the coming days I am really worried about the grim future. The price could fall below Rs50 per crate. It will be a disaster," adds Vishwanath Reddy, a tomato grower from Mangasandra village in Kolar.

The familiar scene of farmers dumping their tomato produce on the roads as a mark of protest is likely to repeat, says Santosh, a tomato merchant who supplies tomatos from Kolar to not only places like Chennai, Kolkata, Rajasthan and other parts of the country, but even exports to Quatar and Pakistan. "We are sending over 300 to 400 crates every day now to Quatar and Pakistan," claims Santosh.

A perennially drought prone district, Kolar has carved a niche for itself in horticulture. The district is the main supplier of Mango and vegetables like tomato, cabbage, cauliflower and beans.

‘We have been let down by our leaders’

While the tomato tale of tears is a recurring feature, the farmers of Kolar curse the failure of their leaders for letting them down in redressing their problem. "We had agriculture ministers like C Byre Gowda, Srinivasa Gowda and now Krishna Byre Gowda from our own district, but without finding a lasting solution for our woes whether in getting water for our crops or ensuring a fair price and market for our produce," says Chandrappa who has branched out to sericulture apart from his tomato farming.

Known as the district of 'Silk and Milk' for its strides in sericulture and dairy farming, the people are waking up for the electoral heat with their demands.

"Setting up cold storage chains to store farm produce during the time of price crash, setting up agro-processing industries, speeding up projects like Yettinahole and Yarragolu ti bring water, giving push for industrial growth in the region,' tops our wish, says Chandrappa of Mudavadi village.

The villages are already seeing the divide as the May 12 assembly election is approaching. In Mangasandra with a population of about 1000, the divide is clear between Above Poverty Line(APL) and Below Poverty Line(BPL) families and also caste divide between Vokkaliga, Kuruba,SC/ST and Minority communities. The Kolar constituency is witnessing tough fight between former agriculture minister Srinivasa Gowda of JD(S) and Syed Zameer Pasha of Congress. The Kuruba, SC/ST and Minority population is showing greater preference for Congress while the Vokkaliga and Reddy communities along with a few OBC castes are consolidating behind Srinivasa Gowda. While Om Shakti Chalapathy of BJP too is giving a fight, incumbent MLA Varthur Prakash of Namma Congress is determined to have the last laugh against his opponents from three bigger parties.

While the BPL families are generally appreciative of Siddaramaiah government's welfare programmes, the APL families are miffed as they are not getting 30kg rice at concessional price of Rs10.

Farming sustains the livelihood of about 60% of the population of the villagers, sericulture and dairy farming are drawing a large segment with hope of more steady income.

Rain hits sweet dreams of Mango growers

The recent spell of rains and gale wings has hit the mango growers of Kolar and Srinivasapura. "We had suffered due to a spell of untimely rains during the flowering season of mango. Just a couple of weeks back the fresh spell of rain and gusty winds has hit the crop," rues Chandrappa, a mango farmer in Srinivasapura.

"Our yield is likely to go down by 30%. Now we are keeping our fingers crossed about the price we get," Chandrappa adds.

Srinivasapura, the mango hub of the region is equally well known for its fierce political battle between Health Minister Ramesh Kumar and his arch rival Venkatashiva Reddy. The constituency has never seen its MLA score a repeat victory. It is always alternative terms for Ramesh Kumar and Venkatashiva Reddy here. Will Ramesh Kumar break the sequenced and humble Reddy again is the question that is being hotly debated in the constituency.

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