KARUR: Banana farmers say they are handed a raw deal by middlemen at the wholesale market.
Karur is one of the largest banana production hubs in the state. Banana is a major crop in the district along with betel leaves and drumsticks.
Though Karur is the only region where the three major rivers - Amaravathi, Cauvery and Noyyal - flow through, majority of land is irrigated using Cauvery water.
Krishnarayapuram, Mahadhanapuram, Mayanur, Metu Thirukampuliyur, Kattalai, Lalapet and Kulithalai are major banana producers in the district. After water, fertiliser and weather, middlemen or commission agents are a big cause of worry for banana farmers.
Tamil Nadu Cauvery Irrigation Farmers’ Welfare Association president Mahadhanapuram Rajaram told TNIE, “It takes around Rs 1 lakh to cultivate and harvest bananas on an acre. The cooperative society gives Rs 40,000 as loan. Farmers approach brokers for the remaining Rs 60,000 in return for promissory notes. The brokers charge exorbitant interest and blackmail them into selling their yield to them. For a cluster worth Rs 100, they offer a price of Rs 75 instead. Because we have no choice, we have to accept these prices. Then, despite us agreeing to their prices, they do not pay even that amount and claim the money would be deducted from the loan and interest.”
He added, “It does not end there as they go a step further and get us to provide another promissory note which voids the previous ones and finally, they then seize farmers’ land. Tamil Nadu is the first State to introduce contract farming in which the buyer must be government-recognised and should hold a licence to buy produce from farmers. This includes bananas, too. In Salem, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts, if a buyer needs to purchase tomatoes from a farmer, that person must get approval from the district
marketing society.”
He said that the same applies to those who buy fodder and turmeric from Erode farmers. The government must take steps in weeding out brokers from the banana business and only allow government-recognised and approved buyers to buy the produce from the farmers.