As garlic turns gold in MP, farmers deploy armed guards, CCTVs to protect produce

Ujjain: Skyrocketing prices of garlic in Madhya Pradesh have seen the kitchen staple get CCTVs and even gun-totting guards for company as farmers get down to securing their produce from thieves amid its golden run at the retail and wholesale markets.

The prices of garlic have breached the Rs 400 per kilogram mark in the retail market in the state, while the rate in wholesale markets was hovering between Rs 30,000 to Rs 35,000 per quintal, several farmers said.

In Mangrola village in Ujjain's Chintaman Road, some 12 kilometres from the district headquarters, security guards and farmers with guns can be seen pacing the fields lush with the crop, while several well off cultivators have installed CCTVs and are watching over their fields on monitors at home.

"Thieves have taken away the produce of several farmers. So I am guarding my 13 bigas of land on which I have sown garlic with our licensed firearm," farmer Bharat Singh Bais told PTI.

"For the last two years we suffered huge losses cultivating garlic, However, lady luck has smiled on us this year. Farmers are getting Rs 200 per kilogram for the crop. Our garlic crop will ripen in the next 15 days so we are guarding our farm this way," Bais added.

Bhopal-based vegetable trader Mohammad Saleem, who runs AKS Company, said he has never seen garlic prices reaching such levels, 'The price of good quality garlic is Rs 200 per kilogram in the wholesale market. Wholesale prices are fluctuating across MP on a daily basis,' Saleem said.

According to an estimate some 30,000 farmers grow 91,000 tonnes of garlic in Mandsaur district. Garlic is also grown in Ratlam, Chhindwara, Agar Malwa, Indore, Dewas and Shajapur districts in the state.