Farmers in the Anuradhapura District who cultivated lime are in a predicament for want of a remunerative market for their produce, while the price of lime has skyrocketed in urban areas due to the ongoing racket of the middleman.

The National Consumers’ Organisation Asela Sampath told the media after attending a programme in Thalawa Divisional Secretariat that the farmers were being exploited by the racketeers who purchased their produce at very low prices.

“The wholesale purchase price of lime in Anuradhapura area is Rs. 50.00 per kilo, but the current market price is Rs. 2,000. Farmers are not harvesting their yield to avoid heavy losses. The yield is left under the trees. Other agricultural produce face a similar fate. The current market price of ginger is Rs. 4,000. A mechanism should be worked out to preserve lime and other agricultural produce that are abundant during the harvesting season for the off-season market.

“The wholesale purchase price of mangoes in Thambuttegama Economic Centre yesterday was Rs. 150. However, the racketeers purchase them and sell in the towns after spraying chemicals for prices between Rs. 500 and Rs. 600 a kilo. It is the harvesting season and the farmers bringing cartloads of mangoes sell them to the middleman for Rs. 150 per kilo.”

“Watermelon is another such produce. Large stocks of watermelon in Rajarata area are dumped in the jungle to be fed on by animals. The government should work out a system to procure them to hospitals, army camps and schools to supplement the midday meal of school children.” he said

He said the authorities have left the ongoing racket of the middleman without the least concern about the predicament of the farmers for want of a remunerative market.