1 week Ago
Nashik/Tasgaon/Miraj: While India exports around 2.60 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of grapes every season, Nashik district contributes over 80% of total grape exports to various countries. Across the 1.
5 lakh acres of grape plantations in Nashik district, the major grape-growing belt of Niphad comprises a hefty 40%. The region houses at least 65,000 grape farmers and over 1.5 lakh voters, which include the former's family members.
However, worries of grape farmers in the taluka are many — heavy import duty on produce sent to Bangladesh, lack of govt subsidy for cover farming, unfavourable insurance policies, and more. Lack of resolution of these issues by state govt for the past decade has intensified their frustration, despite multiple follow-ups. Farmers told TOI that the state has failed to take up the matter of higher import duty for grapes in Bangladesh with Centre, compounding their concerns.
At least 28% (60,000 MT) of India's total grape exports are sent to Bangladesh. "Bangladesh is a major importer of Indian grapes, but its heavy duty levied on Indian grapes is a major problem. The import duty rose from Rs65/kg to Rs104/kg in the last grape season.
This affected grape export to Bangladesh by over 20%," informed Madhukar Gawli, a grape exporter. Climate change is another woe. Unseasonal rains and hail, particularly in Feb and March — peak period for harvest — are damaging vineyards.
"Cover farming can protect our vineyards from the elements — but plastic covers are very costly at Rs4 lakh per acre. We can't afford it," said Ashwin Bhosle, a grape farmer from a village in Niphad, adding, "We want state govt to provide over 50% subsidy to procure plastic covers for our vineyards." In 2014-15, then-CM Devendra Fadnavis, during a visit to rain-hit vineyards in Nashik, promised grape growers a higher subsidy for plastic covers.
"A decade down the line, it is yet to materialize," said Bhosle. Grape farmer Bharat Shinde shared, "Higher GST is another major issue. Centre levied 18% GST on fertilisers and pesticides.
A grape farmer pays GST of Rs50,000 per acre per year, spiking production costs. We want govt to not only remove GST but also provide fertilisers and pesticides at moderate prices." The concerns take on significance ahead of the state assembly poll.
Sitting MLA of Niphad assembly constituency, Dilip Bankar, admitted to the heavy import duty on grapes by Bangladesh, saying, "I have urged state govt to pursue with Centre to hold talks with Bangladesh govt for reducing import duty and boosting our grape exports. Recently, Bangladesh govt rolled back import duty on onions. We hope it will do the same for grapes.
" He added, "I am also pursuing provision of subsidies to farmers for plastic covers with state govt. We are also following up with state and Centre to ensure farmers do not have to pay GST while procuring seeds, fertilisers and pesticides." But troubles do not end here.
Grape farmer Manoj Jadhav said crop insurance policies are also unfavourable — the policy goes into effect from Oct onwards, but heavy rain damages vineyards in Sept. "So, grape farmers do not receive compensation for losses incurred in Sept," explained Jadhav, adding, "Minimum temperature in Nov goes below 5°C, which stops growth of the fruit. This affects overall production.
Such losses are also not covered in grape insurance policies. We want govt to make improvements in this regard." While govt has introduced solar pumps for farmers at present, Jadhav said it's not enough.
"We face load shedding throughout the day and don't get power in the daytime. Electricity for agriculture pumps comes only at night. It becomes very difficult to irrigate vineyards, affecting production.
State govt should provide 50% subsidy for solar pumps in a blanket manner on a large scale to solve the issue to some extent." Financial woes in Sangli Another substantial grape growing region contributing to India's overall production is Sangli. Here, local farmers have a new and alarming concern — fear of losing money to scams.
In the last season alone, over 500-600 grape farmers were duped by traders to the tune of Rs50-60 crore. Many victims have stopped hoping to get back their hard-earned money. The general modus operandi sees traders buying produce and not paying up.
Finally, farmers are left struggling to track down the traders, who disappear. Growers are further frustrated as they believe this issue has been sidelined by political leaders in their assembly campaigns, mainly in Tasgaon-Kavathe Mahankal, Miraj and Jat. Maruti Chavan, president of the Sangli grape growers' association, said, "We are trying to resolve this.
We will bring transparency to the grape trading system. Traders woo farmers by offering a high price as bait, which the latter only find out after the trader flees with the consignment after making a partial payment." One such victim is Suresh Irale, a farmer from Tanang village in Miraj tehsil.
He said that last season, he went through trauma for months after a trader he sold grapes to delayed payment repeatedly. "We approached the police; it didn't work. There should be a mechanism to check such frauds," said Irale.
This distrust of traders has even led to many farmers shifting to raisin production. The golden dry raisins of Sangli have a GI tag; they are used by top global confectionery companies to make jams or as toppings on baked products. While Maharashtra contributes at least 70 per cent to the total raisin production in India, Sangli leads the charge for the state, both in terms of quality and quantity.
Raisin auctions are a weekly affair here, but in the month preceding Diwali, auctions are shut down. Traders are encouraged to pay all pending bills to farmers during this time before auctioning resumes after a few weeks. If they fail to do so, they are barred from further auctions, protecting the interests of growers.
But given the rising shift to raisin production, a problem of plenty has emerged. Over 100 cold storages in the region continue to hold raisins produced last year; sometimes even the year before. Farmers had earlier demanded that state govt procure raisins and divert the nutritious item to midday meals in schools, but execution of this scheme has failed.
Recently, the association of grape growers, revenue department and police decided to develop an app via which traders must register, with valid documentation. Sitting MLA Sumantai Patil from Tasgaon-Kavathe Mahankal, and late RR Patil's son Rohit Patil, who is contesting from the seat this time, both said, "We approached the district collector a few months ago to get the issue addressed. To bring in transparency, we have asked the administration to make registration with valid documents compulsory for traders who will buy grapes from farmers.
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