After a severe drop in the price of the product, cabbage growers in the Belagavi district, particularly in the Belagavi and Bailhongal taluks, are in difficulty.
Many farmers are not even receiving their cost of cultivation, so instead of harvesting the crop, they are tilling the entire field using tillers to turn it into compost. Instead of selling their cabbage at wholesale markets, some farmers are instead feeding it to their cattle.
The price of cabbage has plummeted to Rs. 1 per kilogram in the wholesale market. Even if farmers take their harvest to the market, there are no takers. Some claim that the cause for the price's sharp decline is a decrease in demand from Goa and Maharashtra, two nearby states. Over-cultivation is another factor that is put forth.
In the area, cabbage is grown on roughly 6,300 acres. The majority of it is cultivated in the Belagavi taluk's Kadoli, Jafarwadi, Agasagi, Honaga, Devagiri, and Bhutaramanhatti. Last year at this time, farmers received Rs 20 per kilogram. Yet there is an oversupply presently and the price plummeted drastically in the last month.
Appasab Desai, a farmer leader from Kadoli, requested that the government provide farmers a just reward during a demonstration on the grounds of the DC's office here on Thursday. To safeguard farmers' interests, he pushed for the adoption of agricultural policies along the lines of Kerala.
Similarly in the month of December 2022, farmers due to a distress sale in Odisha, in the Bargarh districts were observed trashing their acres of cabbage crops. Using tractors, several farmers in the Sadar block of the district's Ganchiatikra village stomped vast quantities of cabbages, claiming that the public was unwilling to pay even Rs 1.50 paisa per head.
