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Gujarat: Cash crunch hits Padra APMC; no takers, even at throwaway prices

Wholesale price at Re 1, farmers use unsold brinjals for compost.

Gujarat, Gujarat news, Padra, Padra APMC, demonetisation, vegetable supplies hit, demonetisation vegetable supplies hit, agriculture, indian express, india news

Padra APMC usually supplies nearly 100 tonne vegetables everyday. Express photo

Tonnes of vegetables — mainly brinjal, ivy gourd and sponge gourd — packed in plastic bags to be dispatched to Mumbai and Delhi were lying at the agricultural produce market in Padra taluka of Vadodara district as vendors have cancelled their orders due to sharp decline in demand following demonetisation of old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes.

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Padra APMC (agricultural produce market committee) caters to around 600 vegetable farmers from nearly 90 villages and supplies 90 to 120 tonnes of vegetables everyday to Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and major cities of Gujarat. “This is the peak season and we supply around 100 tonnes of vegetables to Mumbai and Delhi alone, but in the past week we did not receive any order from Mumbai vendors. They even cancelled order for around 60 tonnes. Brinjals were already sent, but we had to destroy those midway as the wholesale price dropped below Re 1,” said Dinesh Gandhi, president, Vegetable Traders Association, Padra.

With the start of November, brinjals had started arriving in the market. Initially, the prices were around Rs 6 to 7 per kg, but it dropped to Re 1 after the demonetisation move created cash crunch in market. “With this price, I am not able to cover even the cost of transportation of brinjal from my farm to market. There are other expenses such as labour cost and cost of bag,” said Kanu Mali, who has grown brinjals in his two bigha land and has a produce of around 100 to 120 kg every alternate day.

“We have to pick these brinjals otherwise they damage the plants. We are now dumping these brinjals in drumstick farms as compost,” said Mali.

Besides farmers, Padra APMC has 20 wholesellers and 97 registered commission agents.

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Melabhai Mali, who has grown brinjals in his 1.5 bigha farm, said: “I have invested Rs 30,000, including the cost of seeds, fertilizer and water. In every two or three days, I have to pick brinjals. For the last 10 days, there is no demand and the wholesale price is Re 1 per kg. I am selling what ever I can, and dumping the unsold stock.”

Secretary of Padra APMC Alpesh Patel said: “Vendors of Mumbai and Delhi have stopped buying our produce. At Padra market, there is excess stock of vegetables. So, we called a meeting of the farmers and asked them to compost the brinjals. We have also asked them to stop watering and providing fertiliser to plants for the next few days till the situation normalises.”