NASHIK (SHIRVADE VANI) :
DEELIP NIPHADE
Raisin traders in Shirvade Vani belt are seeing good days this season as grape growers in the area are having no other alternative option to sell their grape produce at a give away price in local markets owing to the lockdown woes on the backdrop of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Apart from agriculture and related business activities, the farmers in Niphad tehsil are resorting to various experiments and doing a balancing act to mitigate their losses caused by widening gap in demand and supply chain.
In the present situation, the worst hit are the grape farmers who are unwillingly selling their export quality grape produce at a low cost as they have lost bargaining power to sell their produce to the traders and finding it difficult to gauge international market for their export quality grapes.
In order to recover, at least, the cost of production the grape growers in the area are either selling their produce through door to door delivery at very low price or converting their good quality grapes into raisins.
Thegovernment has also announced certain relaxations to boost agriculture economy in villages. Nevertheless, farmers are finding it difficult to make profits out of their investment amid rising debt burden.
The raisin traders in the area have turned lockdown adversities into boon. They are buying good quality grapes from farmers in bulk quantity at a price of around Rs 4/kg which before the lockdown they used to buy at a wholesale price of around Rs 40 per kg to make dry grapes.
Thisyear we can see shades in large numbers for raisin production at various places in Niphad taluka. These activities are also creating employment opportunities for the local youth. This year, the raisin project seems to have reached its peak.
In the past, raisins had to be produced through loose grapes, but now, in some cases grape farmers are handing over entire grape plots/gardens to the raisin maker traders.
In the early days during the beginning of the first lockdown period, raisin traders had to buy loose grapes at a price of Rs 10 to Rs. 15 per kg. Five to six kg of loose grapes were being used to make one kg of raisins. Now, in the present situation, raisin traders in the area are buying export quality grapes from the distressed farmers at a low price of Rs 4 to Rs 6 per kg.
Throughtthisthe traders are making 1 kg of high quality raisins from 4 kg of good quality grapes, thus increasing their profit margin many folds.
