Maharashtra: COVID-19 lockdown affects lemon cultivators in Chalisgaon

Due to the coronavirus lockdown many businesses have been affected badly. Similarly the lockdown has badly impacted the lemon cultivators in Chalisgaon of Maharashtra's Jalgaon district.

The farmers have been compelled to sell their produce at very low prices, as demand has dropped significantly in the present situation. 

Dilip Deshmukh, who owns a lemon farm at Chalisgaon, suffered heavy losses after supplying 80 crates of his produce to the markets of Surat in Gujarat recently.

"Chalisgaon is known for its lemon farms and the agriculture market here is also a collection centre. Businessmen from Gujarat usually send their crates to collect the produce and they pay us based on the weight of the produce," Deshmukh said. 

However, the coronavirus-induced lockdown not only caused the lemon prices to fall, but it also severely hit the commercial demand.

"Although the lemon harvest has been good this year, the closure of restaurants and hotels due to the lockdown has affected the demand," Chalisgaon agriculture market committee chairman Sardarsingh Rajput said. 

Farmers of Chalisgaon try to get higher rates in nearby markets of Gujarat and other parts of Maharashtra, but the price is not more than Rs 5 per kg, he added.