Farmers suffer as middlemen continue to make profit

Bhubaneswar: There seems to be no end to the farmers’ plight in Odisha. Despite a good harvest, the vegetable growers particularly in the outskirts of Bhubaneswar are unable to make profits even though their produce is being sold at much higher rates in the retail markets.

It is the consumers who are now at the receiving end as they are purchasing vegetables at nearly four to five times higher prices than what the farmers get for selling their produce.

The middlemen and other traders are actually buying the farmers’ produce at much cheaper rates while the same vegetables are now being sold at much higher price in various retail markets across the city.

The traders are purchasing cabbage at a price ranging between Rs 2 to 3, brinjal for Rs 3 to 5 and chillies at Rs 3 to 10 per kg from the farmers while the same vegetables are being sold at Rs 15, Rs 40 and Rs 100 respectively.

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“There is no profit for farmers as we are forced to sell our produce at much subsidized rates as we cannot keep vegetables which are perishable items at our place or field for long,” said Braja Behera, a farmer.

What is more surprising is the fact that the vegetable growers despite toiling hard and steep hike in input costs prices of labour and other expenses are unable to recover the production costs.

Invariably, a large chunk of the profit goes to retailers and other middlemen which have now become a matter of concern both the farmers and consumers at the tail end.