Farmers in Bhavnagar and Amreli have sown 300 percent more onions than they did last year; crops such as sesame, maize, moong, urad and groundnut have seen a 100-200 percent increase in the acreage.
Despite the lockdown, farmers in Gujarat have sown summer crop in over 891,000 hectares this year, which is 35 percent more area compared to the previous year. The area of onion crop has risen 300 percent, sesame by 200 percent and for Urad by 175 percent this summer.
Shambhu Goti, a farmer from Talaja taluka of Bhavnagar district, says he took a risk sowing onions this summer. "Farmers in our region who had sown onions in winter got poor remuneration. I had water in my well and I felt the prices of onions will increase as summer picks up so I took a risk and sowed onions."
Apart from onions, farmers planting vegetables also saw a 23 percent growth with 84,600 hectares covered largely in districts of central Gujarat like Anand.
Source: in.news.yahoo.com
