News
Cabbage growers in a stew
Vegetable farmers in and around the Nuwara Eliya district are facing difficult times, with prices of cabbage hitting rock bottom. The current season was particularly bountiful to cabbage growers. But the plentiful supply has hit the farmers hard with the market bottoming out.
Prices for cabbage in particular have been adversely affected with a kg fetching between Rs. 8 Rs. 12 rendering farmers helpless as the price does not even cover the cost of production. A full-grown cabbage this season has reached inordinate proportions and customers are said to be fighting shy of purchasing it due to the extra-large size.
Resultantly large quantities of the vegetable are going to waste and the farmers have been reduced to a situation akin to paupers. In the up-country areas rotten cabbages litter the roadside.
The glut in production is largely due to the unplanned nature of agriculture in the country, with a number of varieties now being grown in diverse areas such as Puttalam, Dambulla, Jaffna, Uva, Paranagama, Welimada & Hewaheta flooding the market.
On an earlier occasion carrot growers faced a similar situation when over-production of carrot sent the prices of that product tumbling.