Coronavirus: Chirang Strawberry Entrepreneur Amarsingh Basumatary Reports Massive Losses amid Lockdown

Kokrajhar April 4, 2020:

As the biggest lockdown in human history after the coronavirus pandemic erupted across the world continues to make a dent on the economy, the challenge of sustaining is perhaps felt most by the small-time players -- the daily wage labourers, the door to door salesmen, the small-time entrepreneurs. This is the story of one such youth from Chirang whose dreams of making a mark as a strawberry cultivator have been dashed after quintals of his produce turned to rot.

Amarsingh Basumatary, who hails from Salbari village along the Indo-Bhutan border of Chirang district, is a budding entrepreneur. He is a graduate from Bengtal College and has started cultivating strawberry crops in his three-bigha area of land from last year onwards.

Basumatary informed that there were 17,000 saplings of  strawberry were planted in the three bigha land, supplied from the agriculture department of the Bodoland Territorial Counci'. Additionally, some plants are from Himachal Pradesh.

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The budding enterpreneur had grand designs this year to sell a significant amount of produce, and had also employed as many as 5 labourers for the farling. His wife is also involved in the business and they all look after the plantation together. January to May is the most productive time for the farmers, but now, due to the lockdown, his production has taken a heavy jolt.

However, after the lockdown was announced, he has declared losses to the tune of Rs 4-5 lakh, and laments that it could rise beyond Rs 7 crore if the lockdown continues till April 14, which is extremely likely now with several cases of the COVID-19 having been reported in the state.

The strawberry fruits which were sold at various markets in Gelephu (Bhutan), bazaars in Kokrajhar, Kajalgaon, Bongaigaon,Barpeta and Guwahati of Assam, are now not being sent to the market as only "essential" commodities are being sold during the lockdown. This, the farmer says, has resulted in massive losses for his budding enterprise and he has lost a season's worth of produce as the markets have come to a standstill.

He used to sell in Gelephu, a Bhutanese market at Rs.500 per kilogram, and at Rs. 300-350 per kilogram in Assam markets. He said that he intends to plant crops like watermelon, and some other organic vegetables which are found in the locality. After the damage to his crops, he has now appealed the Government to provide compensation in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak.

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"I am facing financial hardships as my harvested strawberry fruits are damaged in the field due to the lockdown across the region. I am losing several lakh worth of fruits because markets, bazaars and communications are totally locked down across the country. I used to pluck 80-90 kgs of strawberry fruits as this is the high time for fruits, but now, the lockdown due to the coronavirus has made life difficult", said a disappointed Amarsingh Basumatary.

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