Cauliflower growers are now feeling the heat of falling prices. These farmers, who have cultivated cauliflower as an alternative to tomato crop, are now facing huge losses.
The vegetables from the cabbage species have very limited shelf life, the cauliflower perhaps the worst of the lot in this regard.
Expensive
The crop needs expensive fertilisers from the time the seeds are sown, to the harvest season. And even the slightest bit of negligence can cause the crop to be infested with worms. For a good yield, the crop requires manure and fertilisers, and has to be grown under moist conditions. Which means that raising this crop is an expensive affair.
The harvesting of this vegetables requires a minimum of Rs 3,000; added to this is the cost of transporting the produce from here to Chennai - a sum of Rs 7,000. One farmer told Deccan Herald that in most cases, they recover just the transportation and labour costs.
What makes matters worse for these farmers is that no traders are now coming forth to buy their cauliflower produce. No crop but tomato commands a good price currently, and the fall in prices has left these farmers helpless.