Sweet lime bucks the trend

All most all crops are selling below minimum support price

Varaprasad, a tobacco farmer, has been hoping to get decent returns thanks to favourable grade out-turn obtained at his farm. But things took a bad turn as the spike in infections has led to the suspension of auctions for a fortnight as it happened last year in the traditional tobacco growing areas in Prakasam and Nellore districts. The decision has been taken in the wake of Tobacco Board officials and hamalis contracting the viral disease, according to a grower from Mangamoor village. When the crop regulator decided to temporarily shut the auction platforms till May-end the prices for different varieties of tobacco fell by ₹15-30 per kg, according to Tobacco Board sources. The growers of the main commercial crop in the drought-prone parts of the two districts could market only 20.98 million kg since the beginning of auctions in mid-March.