Vegetable growers of Punjab fear losses after imposition of curfew

BATHINDA: Vegetable growers of Punjab are facing trouble due to imposition of curfew in the state due to the spread of coronavirus. Worried that they may not be able to take their perishable produce to the market for sale and would have to incur heavy losses, they have demanded relaxation in curfew for a few hours in the morning so that they could sell their produce and also tend to their crop in the fields.

Vegetables have been grown in 2.73 lakh hectare land, out of which potatoes are in 1.05 lakh hectare. Nearly 1.80 lakh farmers are in vegetable cultivation for commercial purposes. Some farmers have already started ploughing the fields where vegetables are grown. Some farmers of Bhainibagha village in Mansa district had thrown peas in the fields on Monday.

Mohinder Singh, a vegetable farmer from Bhainibagha, said, "As we are unable to take our vegetables to market, we threw bags of peas in the fields and ploughed nearly 4 acre area where vegetables were grown." Another farmer of the village, Gora Singh said, "We too threwn away peas and are now worried about the chilly crop."

"We grow vegetables which are consumed daily and sell them in various towns. However, now that curfew has been imposed, we may not be able to sell these vegetables, which just lose shelf life and rot away," said Kulwant Singh, a vegetable grower of Malerkotla area of Sangrur.

Another vegetable grower Khursheed Alam said, "If we are unable to sell vegetables even for a few days, we are going to incur big losses."

Harcharan Singh, a potato grower of Bathinda, said, "We fear (curfew) restrictions, as they will eat up our earnings from crops, which we have been able to manage after four years. We want government to give relaxation in curfew hours."

