Fruits Market News

Agri Market Prices: Banana- Excessive supply leads to crash in banana prices.

Mysuru: A bumper banana crop has drastically brought down the price of Yalakki banana last year from Rs 30-40 per kg to this season Rs 5-20 per kg. Yalakki is a small and sweet variety of banana, Cultivation of Yalakki was taken up in Mysuru district on a large scale.

Cultivation began on 2,600 hectares last year, and also farmers got a good price for their yield. This year more farmers started growing banana, which resulted in a bigger yield.

In this year, the horticulture department statistics show banana cultivation was taken up on 2,700 hectares. Just three months ago, farmers got a good price for their produce but the price has fallen steeply in the past two months.

An average of 50 truckloads of banana would reach the bale mandi at Devaraja market every day, but more than 100 truckloads are coming into the city not only across the district but also from different parts of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh in the past two months and this leads to a glut in the market.

In the corresponding period last year, Yalakki was Rs 40 per kg, and Pachabale was sold at Rs 15 a kg. This year surplus supply and high local yield has brought down the wholesale price of Yalakki to Rs 5-20 per kg, and Pachabale is Rs 4-6 per kg.

Banana wholesale dealer at the banana mandi near Devaraja Market, Rangaswamy said "In August, banana farmers got good returns for their Yalakki yield and it was Rs 50 per kg and ast year, during Varamaha akshmi, it was Rs 68 per kg. After seeing a rise in price and subsidy from the government, many farmers may have taken up cultivation, which resulted in a bumper crop. The aftermath of floods in Chennai may be another reason."

"We used to get a good price for banana but for the past one month, the rate as come down drastically. I got Rs 40 per kg of Yalakki two months ago but it has come down to Rs 16. On five acres, I had planted 5,000 saplings and spent nearly Rs 1.5 lakh. I expected Rs 4-5 lakh but got around Rs 2 lakh. Many farmers haven't even got back what they spent," said Madhu, who has cultivated banana at Scooli village in Gundlupet taluk for the past couple of decades.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/