It is not just the onion and pomegranate farmers in Maharashtra who are facing a decline in income, farmers involved in the processing of raisins have also reported a 30 per cent dip in prices on account of excess production.

The raisins production this year stands at about 1.85 lakh tonnes, 20 per cent higher than in the previous year. In the wholesale market, this had resulted in prices dropping to ₹150 per kg against last year’s ₹220.

Prices decline

When grapes are sun-dried and processed, the end-product is raisins. The large markets in Maharashtra are Sangli and Tasgaon in Western Maharashtra.

Grape and raisin farmer Baburao Kabade from Malgaon near Sangli said that farmers who were not getting good rates for table grapes had shifted their crop to raisins processing but this year even Bedana (raisins) business is a failure. “How can we recover our costs?”

Last year, the prices had reached as high as ₹250 per kg but today depending on quality framers are getting ₹40- 180, Kabade said.

Higher arrivals

Manoj Malu, President of Sangli Tasgaon Bedana Association, said due to the dry climate and higher temperatures, the process of converting grapes to raisins was much faster, which resulted in higher arrivals.

Over the last few years, farmers have also invested in sorting machines for raisins and it has resulted in higher production costs.

Malu said last year due to a dip in Iranian raisins production, the Indian export market was fetching much higher prices, which had resulted in much better prices for farmers.

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