Ranchi, Jan 4 (IANS): Farmers in Jharkhand are grappling with severe financial distress despite a bumper harvest as vegetable prices have plunged in markets across the state over the past week, leaving them unable to recover even the basic costs of cultivation.
Staple vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage, spinach, and tomatoes are being sold for as low as Rs 5-10 per kg in Ranchi’s city markets. In rural areas, prices are even lower. Middlemen are unwilling to offer farmers fair prices, compelling many to take drastic measures. In some cases, farmers are destroying their crops in frustration.
Radheshyam Mahato, a farmer from Badkipona village in Chitarpur block, flattened his cabbage crop over one acre of land by driving a tractor over it. A similar incident occurred in Gola block, where another farmer destroyed his cauliflower crop as he did not get a fair price.
In Ormanjhi, Ranchi district, farmers are uprooting and discarding their vegetable crops.
Kameshwar Mahato, a farmer from Ukrid village, said that he cultivated cauliflower and cabbage across five to six acres. However, with the crop fetching just Rs 2-3 per kg, even the transportation cost to the market is more than the earnings, he lamented.
Farmers from Jamhar village in Kasmar block, Bokaro district, including Ramesh Verma, Ramchandra Mahato, Lakhanlal Mahato, and Niranjan Mahato, shared similar woes. After enduring crop damage due to unseasonal rains, they replanted their fields with high hopes, only to face plummeting market prices.
The problem is widespread, affecting major vegetable-growing areas like Itki, Bedo, and Mandar in Ranchi district, Petarwar and Kasmar in Bokaro district, Gola and Chitarpur in Ramgarh district, and Domchanch and Dhargaon in Koderma district, among others.
Shibu Mahato, a farmer from Dadpur village in Chauparan block, Hazaribagh district, said, “Radishes and cabbages are selling for just Rs 4-5 per kg. Buyers from outside the region are not willing to pay even these low rates, making it unviable to transport crops from fields to the markets.”
Local journalist Ramdev Kesari, from Itkhori in Chatra district, highlighted that the price drop is a recurring issue from February to April-May every year. He stressed the urgent need for vegetable processing units and mechanisms to ensure fair crop prices. “Without such measures, the situation for farmers remains bleak,” he said.