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Nuwara Eliya farmers face a plethora of problems
View(s):Farmers in the Nuwara Eliya district are facing a new crisis –low quality seed material provided by private companies and the resultant low yields. Kandasamy Pushparaj, a farmer said weather patterns too had changed over the past two years and had affected vegetable growers in the area.
“Previously,” he said, “seed potato and other seed material were distributed by the Agriculture Department, but now a number of private firms have taken over the import and distribution. Similarly the sales of pesticides too are controlled by private companies.
Farmers are uninformed of the pesticides they are using and are held to ransom by rich pesticide companies,” he said.“Farmers have no control over the sale of their produce; there are times we are even unable to sell a kg of leeks for as little as five rupees,” he said.
Thilak Wijekoon, a farmer in Mahagastota lamented that last October, thousands of kg of carrot were discarded as farmers were unable to sell the crop. A few weeks ago cabbage producers were unable to cover the cost of their produce as cabbages were selling at less than Rs. 7 per kg. “We are solely dependent on the income we receive from agriculture,” he lamented.
“Even today we do not receive a fair price for potatoes and are forced to sell our produce at 58 rupees per kg” he said.
“The State should get involved in finding a solution to issues faced by the farmers in Nuwara Eliya”. There is a need to set up a mechanism to protect both the farmers and the public, ” he added.