Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh

It is a picturesque route to Hardi village in Marihan tehsil in Uttar Pradesh, with meandering paths, the hills of the Vindhya ranges in the background, and the Sirsi river flowing past. Hardi is located 50 kilometers away from Mirzapur headquarters next to the Sirsi dam that is fed by the Sirsi river, and several mountain streams.

In the monsoon, acres of land on the side of the dam are inundated with water and when the water drains away, the ground is fertile and conducive to cultivating crops.

The irrigation department allocates the land near the dam to the adivasi and economically disadvantaged communities in the villages nearby, to cultivate crops. Some more affluent farmers also lease bigger lands to cultivate produce.

The land is leased to tillers for five years on patta at a rate of Rs 500 per bigha. “Depending on the rainfall that year, anything between twelve hundred to fifteen hundred farmers grow crops here,” Mithilesh Kumar, executive engineer, irrigation department, Sirsi block, told Gaon Connection.

Shiva Rai is one such beneficiary farmer.

Rai came from Varanasi to Hardi, 35 kilometres away, in order to take 25 acres (10 hectares) of land on lease and grow vegetables and fruits there. “I was so happy that I had a good yield this year, but the second wave of the pandemic has caused me untold losses,” he said.

Rai had cultivated fruits and vegetables for the first time. He grew hybrid bhindi (okra) along with cucumber and watermelons but none of it could be harvested due to the raging pandemic and COVID19 restrictions. “Nearly a hundred tonnes of cucumber rotted on the field as did hundred and fifty tonnes of watermelons,” he told Gaon Connection.

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Rai said he had invested nearly Rs 10 lakh on the land. He barely recovered Rs 2 lakh. “On account of the mandis being closed due to the partial curfew in the state, vegetables were not moving,” he said. Whatever was managed to be sold was fetching abysmal rates. 

“For each acre the input cost is about forty five thousand rupees. Labour is expensive and there is the electricity cost to irrigate the fields,” he explained his investment and told Gaon Connection to calculate his losses.

Harvest of losses

According to Mithilesh Kumar of the irrigation department, there are 10,832 acres (4,384 hectares) of land by the Sirsi dam, occupied by villages, reservoirs, roads and the fertile swathes of land where farming is undertaken by 1,200-1,500 lease farmers.

This year, too, the soil along the Sirsi dam had yielded a bounty of watermelons, muskmelons, tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables. Lush green fields, ripe with produce, stretched to the horizon. Hundreds of melons in netted bags lay on the sides of the farms. Heaps of tomatoes added a splash of contrast to the green fields. Yellow marigolds danced in the breeze.

Normally the scene would be a cause to bring smiles to the farmers’ faces. Instead, it has left farmers, both big and small, wringing their hands in despair. The pandemic has wreaked havoc with their plans and their flowers, fruits and vegetables have no takers.

Also read: The COVID19 lockdown leaves fruit and vegetable farmers in a soup

Like Rai, Jhullur Adivasi from Hardi is in trouble too. “There are no buyers for our fruits and vegetables,” the 38-year-old farmer told Gaon Connection. He grows watermelons and muskmelons on two bighas (one bigha = 0.6 acre) of land by the side of the river. 

“The irrigation department gives the poor three bighas of land per person to grow produce. For a patta of one bigha of land, we deposit five hundred rupees with the government,” he explained. 

Jhullur said he was in dire straits as his entire crop of fruits has remained unharvested on the fields and ripened and rotted there. “Even if I have to sell them I am not getting more than a rupee or two a kilo for them. I won’t even be able to recover the cost of a tempo to transport them to the mandi,” he said.

Even if he did transport them to the mandi, because of the partial curfew, there was barely any activity there. “There are no takers for the vegetables and fruits this time,” he said. They are standing and spoiling on his land, he said pointing sadly to the crop standing behind him. 

Also Read: Maharashtra lockdown: Fresh troubles for Alphonso farmers and traders

In order to cultivate a bigha of land, Jhullur spends nearly Rs 20,000. “Forget about profits, I will not even recover the cost of production,” he lamented. He worried about his family of four children who he had to feed.

Lifting of partial curfew raises hope

Suresh Bind cultivated tomatoes in 15 biswa of land [1 bigha equals 10 biswa] near the Sirsi dam. From Piprav village in Marihan tehsil, the 32-year-old vegetable farmer told Gaon Connection that he had spent Rs 25,000 on growing the tomatoes.

Mounds of harvested tomatoes lay on one side and gesturing towards them he said, “The going rate at the mandi is no more than a rupee per kilo of tomatoes. I won’t even recover my transportation cost from that. It makes more sense for me to leave the tomatoes to rot in the field,” he said. He had also planted some cucumbers, but that has not sold either, he said.

The partial curfew in the state has been lifted since June 1 and Bind is hopeful. “I had harvested some of the tomatoes. I will take them to the mandi. I am expecting to get at least ten rupees a kilo for them,” he said.

Jitendra Singh Patel hoped things would look up too. The 28-year-old from Lalpur Naudiha village in Marihan tehsil cultivated bottle gourd, bitter gourd, watermelon, muskmelon, on six bighas of land. “But nothing is selling for more than four or five rupees a kilo. I have spent fifty thousand rupees on cultivating them,” he told Gaon Connection.

According to Patel, he recently took the vegetables to the mandi, whatever was leftover, he brought them back home and took them back to the mandi again the following day. “If I manage to sell them, then I am happy. Often they do not sell and I just throw them away,” Patel said.

Meanwhile, the farmers on the banks of the Sirsi river live in hope. “It will be a tough year ahead as most of us will be in debt and we have to find resources for the next season,” Rai said. “But lives are more important than harvests and we will recover our losses in the next harvest. But there will be no coming back for all those who lost their lives in the pandemic,” he concluded.