Banana farmers in Madhya Pradesh destroy harvest as prices collapse
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Banana farmers in Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar district are facing severe distress as crashing market prices have forced many to destroy their fully grown crops.
With buyers absent and rates too low to cover even basic input costs, farmers say months of labour and investment have gone to waste.
Scenes from Hatnawar village in Dharampuri show farmers driving tractors through their fields, uprooting plants they had tended for months. The visual despair mirrors their emotional and financial losses. Many say they had no choice left after waiting in vain for traders to arrive.
Some farmers have invested lakhs of rupees only to receive price offers that are being described as humiliating rather than compensatory.
Farmers in Hatnawar say the impact is not limited to financial strain. The emotional burden of destroying the very plants they nurtured is equally heavy. Many describe the act as mentally exhausting and deeply painful.
The crisis unfolds shortly after Chief Minister Mohan Yadav announced plans to use banana crop residues for textile production. He said, "We are preparing to set up a textile factory using banana stems, fibres, and leaves. Textiles will be made from banana crop waste." Farmers hope such initiatives may eventually offer alternative avenues, but the current crisis remains acute.
Madhya Pradesh is the seventh-largest banana-producing state in India, contributing nearly 2.5 million metric tons annually — over 6.5 per cent of the country’s total production. Despite this significant output, farmers say they remain vulnerable because high production does not guarantee stable or fair prices.
For now, the destroyed harvests stand as a stark reminder of the volatility farmers continue to face, and the urgent need for solutions that can protect them from such devastating losses.