Novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has hit the banana farmers of Anantapur and Kadapa districts hard as the importing countries like Iran have gone into a lockdown.
The price of a tonne of banana, which used to command between ₹13,000 and ₹14,500 just a month ago, came down below ₹8,000. It would be non-remunerative for farmers if the average price of banana falls below ₹6,000 a tonne.
Desai Fruits Company, which exported about 15,000 tonnes of Happy Banana brand of bananas so far from Anantapur district with 20 rakes of goods container trains to Iran, stalled it from Sunday as it exhausted its cold storage capacity also.
Deputy Director of Horticulture S. Subbarayudu said when there was demand for bananas a couple of months ago, many farmers did not part with their stocks even at ₹14,000 a tonne, but today it has come down to ₹8,000 a tonne.
The local market was offering only ₹5,000 a tonne. Exports have seen a drastic fall resulting in flooding of domestic market with stocks from Pulivendula and other places in Kadapa district.
Kadavakallu in Putlur mandal of Anantapur district is plush with banana stocks and had sent the first fruit train of the country to Iran. Now the farmers are waiting for buyers who would offer a good price.
Pomegranate not hit
The district has seen a good yield of pomegranate and farmers got a good price of ₹8,000 per tonne compared with the market price of ₹5,000 and are happy COVID-19 did not impact them.