Farmers sell stock outside Belagavi city as demand dwindles from Goa

While demand from Goa has dwindled due to the rising Covid crisis in the coastal state, farmers are facing a problem regarding transportation to Goa as transporters are reportedly charging a huge amount to transport vegetables to Goa.

Belagavi and North Karnataka region is known for huge yields of vegetables especially during summer. Every year these vegetables have a huge demand in Goa and parts of Western Maharashtra. But the deepening Covid crisis has brought everything to a grinding halt owing to restrictions and lockdown imposed in both these states.

A wide range of vegetables are brought everyday to APMC market yard in Belagavi city and other markets by farmers from various parts of Belagavi district and North Karnataka region. However, there have been no takers as expected due to prevailing circumstances.

“To maintain social distancing, the wholesale market has been now divided in two places. The timing too has been restricted from 6 am to 10 am every day. The time is very short for auction of vegetables, due to which farmers prefer to sell their produce themselves on the outskirts of the city,” Umesh Patil a wholesale trader said.

“Traders too are in a quandary regarding purchase of vegetables,” Patil added.

Farmers are worried as large quantity of vegetables remains unsold in the APMC market, due to which prices of most of their vegetables have crashed and the dwindling demand has deepened the crisis further.

Prices of vegetables like lady’s finger, cauliflower, capsicum, potato, tomato, beans, carrot, cucumber, green chilly etc., are being produced in large quantities in several parts of Belagavi

“The Covid pandemic has severely affected our business since last year and we have suffered a lot due to the lockdowns that are being imposed,” a farmer lamented.