Farmers’ market gives this BE graduate a lifeline

At the R S Puram Uzhavar Sandhai, along the line where a majority of Karamadai farmers have set up shops, is a tall young man sporting a T-shirt and jeans, standing in front of a shop that has three varieties of bananas. Kannan Rangarajan’s shop in the market, though relatively new, is well-known for his fresh, ripe bananas. Not many people know that a little over a year back, Rangarajan, was considering giving up farming altogether due to cut throat middle men and agents. The 32-year-old says introduction into Uzhavar Sandhai (farmer’s market) changed his life.
A little more than two years back, Rangarajan, a BE graduate, was working in Dubai as a site engineer earning Rs 3 lakh a month. However, an accident at his workplace brought his career crashing down and Rangarajan was left recuperating in his home with three to four bulged discs in his back. “They said even if I go back, I can’t even climb a flight of 10 stairs,” he said. After a few months of mulling over career options, he decided to join his parents in farming their 8 acres of land spread across Sirumugai, Moolayur and Ammanpudur.
However, the first time he took his bananas to the Mettupalayam vegetable market, he was shocked to find agents offering him just Rs 2.50 for a bunch of bananas. “I was ready to give up farming or sell it in front of my house myself,” said Rangarajan. That was when a member of his father’s farming cooperative suggested he take his vegetables to one of the uzhavar sandhais and sell it himself. “Here, after all my expenses, including my own travel to town daily, my transport costs of Rs 2 per kg of vegetables, I make a profit of Rs 1,000 per day, or Rs 30,000 to Rs 35,000 a month on an average,” he said. “This is the only way agriculture becomes sustainable,” he added.
There are several farmers like Rangarajan who believe that the Uzhavar Sandhai is a critical factor that has made agriculture sustainable. “In uzhavar sandhai, we get Rs 5 more per kg of produce than in the market daily. In fact, we would get Rs 7 more, if we had free buses from Karamadai, which we don’t. But still Rs 5 per kg or per bunch of greens, means we earn more than Rs 300 to Rs 400 per day than what a middle-man would give us,” S Balasubramaniam, who owns 23 acres of land at Thimampalayam Pudur, said.