COVID-19 lockdown: Farmers in Bhopal dump tomatoes, say no sales
May 26, 2021
Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) [India], May 27 : Farmers in Bhopal are dumping their produce of tomatoes, saying that they are incurring losses due to lack of sales.
Abdul Jabbar Khan, a farmer, told ANI, "This is Bherpura. We are cultivating tomatoes, chillies and cauliflowers on this land on a lease agreement. The police are not letting us sell tomatoes citing lockdown. They are beating farmers and sellers."
"The produce is rotting in fields which is why we have to throw them as they will affect other crops too. We are bearing losses in lakhs," he further said.
"We have to pay our lease amount on this land. The sales are not happening at all and we had paid for diesel and travel charges. We do not know what to do," the farmer shared his plight.
Another farmer said, "Police will chase us and sellers if we try to sell the produce. We had to dump our produce. Otherwise, other crops will get spoilt also. The losses amount to Rs 15 to 20 lakhs."
According to Union Health Ministry, Madhya Pradesh has 57,766 active COVID-19 cases. The total number of recoveries has reached 6,99,014 and fatalities have mounted to 7,558. (ANI )
