Assam farmers face huge losses worth Rs 41 crore due to COVID-19 lockdown:
Guwahati, May 9: Assam Farmers face huge losses due to Lockdown. The ongoing nationwide lockdown that imposed to contain the spread of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) has been severely impacting the farming sector in Assam.
The farmers of the state have faced a huge loss worth around Rs 41 crore after they failed to sell their produced vegetables in markets due to lockdown.
Assam Agriculture Minister Atul Bora also admitted it and said that, due to lockdown, the farmers of the state have been facing huge losses.
“The cost of loss could be around Rs 40.80 crore. This year’s vegetable production in the state is much more compared to the previous years. But due to lockdown, most farmers have failed to sell their produces vegetables in the markets. Our government is helping many farmers to sell their produces vegetables,” Atul Bora said.
The Assam Agriculture minister also admitted that, Assam has still a shortage of cold storage facilities.
“There are 36 cold storages in the state and many of them from the private sectors. We have newly constructed two cold storages in the state,” Atul Bora said.
The state has 36 cold storages with a capacity of 157906 MT.
According to the Assam government data, the state had produced around 69 lakh MT vegetables last year.
Many farmers of the state who had taken loans from banks and other financial institutions for farming, but they are now spending sleepless nights after they failed to sell their produces vegetables in markets or many vegetables damaged in fields.
Ajgar Ali – a farmer of the Kaliabor area in Assam’s Nagaon district who had cultivated watermelon by taking a loan from the bank, but he is now worried about how he can repay the loan amount.
“We are flood-affected people. Along with me 200 others have cultivated watermelons in around 1000 bigha lands on the bank of Brahmaputra river. But a major part of watermelons have damaged and we are not able to find any market to sell our produces due to lockdown,” Ajgar Ali said.
There are many more farmers in the state who are facing similar problems.
