CITY, THY NAME IS CRUELTY?

         Vegetable prices hit summer high

CHENNAI: For the past six weeks, homemaker Vijayalakshmi has not had beans and tomatoes in her kitchen as the prices of these vegetables — usually consumed daily — have risen sharply due to poor arrivals. 

On Wednesday, beans were retailing at `90 a kg while tomatoes were sold at `65 a kilo in Tiruvanmiyur market. The last time the veggies sold at reasonable prices was in early April — beans were sold at `20 a kg and tomatoes at `12 a kg. "Now the prices are crazy. I simply can't afford such high prices. All this while, I thought being vegetarian was cheaper on the wallet. "

The above report was from  THE TIMES OF INDIA.

While one sympathises with the city dwellers  as the undue increase in the prices of vegetables would hurt their pockets, it is to be noted that none has a heart to speak up when farmers are hit repeatedly by the input costs, monsoon failures, farm labour, pest attacks, poor marketing facilities and so on.

Pl.go through the following to get a real picture how farmers are duped in India. 

Proof-1. 

MRP: Rs. 10.00

Our Price: Rs. 9.90

You save: Rs. 0.10

News report

2. May 28, 2013– India 's soya industry is re-discovering the pleasures of leisure. ...Bruised in spirit they may be, no one wanted to risk bruises to the flesh. ... Corn prices have been rising, touching Rs 10/kg in the North and Gujarat . Though ..."

   
   

   
   

    38 Grams KUKURE IS TEN RUPEES. 

   
   

   1000 Grams CORN IS ALSO  TEN RUPEES.

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   What a great  market economy!  

   
   

   PROOF-2

   
   

Tomato farmers dump produce

1.  Tomato farmers in Kinathukadavu, who take their produce to the wholesale market, have started dumping it as the price has plummeted. According to T. Chinnasamy alias Chinnu, a tomato trader-cum-farmer, the current price of a kg of the vegetable varies from Re.1 to Rs. 5 depending on the quality.

   
   

   

   
   

   Tomato farmers in a soup again  Radha Venkatesan | TNN 

   Coimbatore: Tomato farmers are in a soup again.As the March mercury zooms in western Tamil Nadu,the red,plump tomatoes,a must in Indian kitchens,gets dirt cheap,quite literally.

Now,the farm price of a 15-kg box of tomatoes has plummeted to an abysmal Rs 25 from Rs 50 last month in the key tomato production centres in Coimbatore and Tirupur districts in western Tamil Nadu.
As tomato prices dropped to less than Rs 2 per kg on Monday,dejected farmers in Udumalpet and nearby areas dumped piles of plucked tomatoes for cattle to feed.
Some farmers even decided to let ripe tomatoes rot rather than spend on labour charges for plucking the fruit.Heaps of tomatoes across the region have thus turned into cattle feed or are rotting in several fields.
After paying Rs 6 per box for transport charges and Rs 120 per day for plucking charges,we get only Rs 25 per kg.So,instead of spending on transport and labour charges,we have decided to let the cattle graze our fields, says PT Chinnasamy,a tomato farmer in Ponneri Ayyanpalayampudur,about 10 km from Udumalpet town in Tirupur district.For the last 28 years,he has been growing tomatoes on his one-and-a-half acre land.
And almost every year,scorching March is a crisis month for tomato farmers like him.In fact,the red fruit starts losing its market sheen from January onwards when the tomato yield in the fields rises.After the north-east monsoon,most farmers in western Tamil Nadu plant a tomato crop and 60 days after the planting,the fruits start appearing.As the summer heat rises,tomatoes ripen faster and the yield nearly doubles.From 10 to 15 tonnes an acre,the yield increases to 25 tonnes during February and March.With production peaking,the demand nosedives in the wholesale market.

FACTS THAT HURT FARMERS

The produce from the village has no fixed price. 

Whatever comes from the city is fixed and will go upwards only. 

None argues for a reduction of price for a pesi/coke can

Every one bargains with a greens seller on the streets , a banana vendor in the bazaar

CITY,  STOP YOUR CRUELTY

When every rate/wages go up everyday why do you want the produce of farmers' produce alone at rock bottom prices?