Northern farmers left high and dry
Posted on May 25th, 2021
Text and Pix By Dinasena Ratugamage Courtesy The Island
Ongoing lockdowns have dealt the pumpkin and ash pumpkin farmers in Kilinochchi a crippling blow; they are unable to sell their produce, says President of the Pooneryn Farmers’ Association S Arluananthan.
Stocks of pumpkin and ash pumpkin had been lying in sheds for over three weeks, but traders could not come to the fields to collect them, Arluananthan said. Although the farmers of Kilinochchi take their produce to Special Economic Zones in Dambulla and Thambuttegama a large number of their colleagues sell their produce to the traders coming from other areas, according to Arulananthan. The farmers were in a desperate situation as they could not sell a kilo of pumpkin or ash pumpkin even at Rs. 10 a kilo, the President of the Pooneryn Farmers’ Association said.