Ramgarh fruit farmers unhappy at low prices

Pithoragarh, August 12

Pear and potato farmers of the Ramgarh fruit belt in Nainital district are a bit worried these days about their future in horticulture. Their fruit-laden trees are not fetching them the price even equal to their investment.

“We will have to choose other means to survive as the occupation of horticulture is not profitable for us anymore. We have fruit-laden trees in our gardens but none of these fruits is fetching profitable prices this year,” said Dungar Singh, a resident of Mukteswar village in the Ramgarh area, one of the highest fruit growing belt in the Kumaon region.

He said even potatoes grown to meet midway cost of living till the marketing of fruits were selling at a very low cost at the Haldwani mandi.

“We are getting Rs 4 per kg of pear and Rs 8 to Rs 12 per kg of potato in the Haldwani mandi, which is lower than our investment,” Dungar said.

“Now, the Ramgarh fruit belt is only good for tourists who come here to shoot memorable photos with fruit-laden trees or for birds which come in numerous groups to taste the fruit, as the farmers have refused to pluck them until they get a marketable price for their produces,” said Bhupesh Kannaujia, a resident of the Ramgarh fruit belt.

“We, fruit growers of the Ramgarh belt and 20 other villages around it, have sent a memorandum to Chief Minister Harish Rawat reminding him of his assurances of not letting the fruit produce in the state go waste due to lack of marketable prices. But the government was yet to take some action,” Dungar added.

Tribune