Price of lemon skyrocketing in Vijayapura district

Vijayapura: The price of essential commodities as well as fuel is increasing day by day. After other veggies have become dearer, now lemon whose juice is savoured by most people to beat the summer heat, is going beyond the reach of common man.

On Monday, the price of lemon touched an all-time high at Vijayapura Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) market witha bag containing one thousand having been auctioned fora whopping Rs 8,000. The normal price in wholesale market was Rs 300-Rs 400 per 1000 lemons. Normally, it is sold by weight. But dueto huge demand, it's sold by dozens.

Vijayapura is the largest lemon producing district in Karnataka. According to the State horticulture department information,Karnataka produces three lakh tonnes of lemon annually of which Vijayapuraaccounts fortwo lakh tonnes. Whilelemon is grown in 21,000 hectares in State, in Vijayapura alone it's cultivated in 16,000 hectares. In Kodagu, coffee growers grow lemon as a mixed crop in estates.

But the production is not sufficientto meet the demand in district itself. Last year, there was not much demand for lemon as the frustrated farmers had thrown the produce onthe highway in protest against price fall. The growers are also in distress owing to price fall, climatic condition and diseases which affects the yield. Ironically, this year the farmers are getting a high price but yield is less. The consumers find it hard to stomach the fact that they have to shell down Rs 10 – Rs 11 apiece.