In the wake of surging prices of garlic in Madhya Pradesh's Chhindwara, farmers have now come up with innovative measures to protect the produce by installing CCTV cameras in their fields.
The price of garlic has skyrocketed in the market, reaching an all-time high of Rs 400 to Rs 500 per kilogram, leaving farmers in both joy and distress.
The farmers adopted this unique way to stop their high-investment crops from being stolen.
Rahul Deshmukh, a Garlic cultivator who invested Rs 25 lakh in cultivating garlic across 13 acres has now received a huge return of nearly Rs 1 crore after selling garlic in the market.
"I had planted garlic on 13 acres of land in which I have spent a total of Rs 25 lakh, till now I have sold the crop worth Rs 1 crore, and the crops are yet to be harvested," Mr Deshmukh told ANI on Sunday.
He further said that the affordable price of the solar-powered cameras helped him protest the crops.
"I have used solar power in his field and also installed moving CCTV cameras for the safety of crops. 3 cameras have been installed to monitor garlic crops grown on 4 acres," he added.
Meanwhile, another Garlic cultivator in Badnoor, Pawan Chaudhary said that they have spent Rs 4 lakh on his 4-acre garlic crop and reaped a profit of Rs 6 lakh.
"I installed three CCTV cameras to monitor my field. Two cameras are mine, while one camera is rented. My garlic was being stolen from my fields due to which I had to install these cameras," he added.
According to the farmers, while the annual price of garlic typically reaches up to Rs 80 per kilogram, this season has seen a significant escalation, crossing Rs 300 per kilogram. Consequently, they have reaped substantial profits, marking the first instance of such a substantial increase in garlic prices.
Never before has the price of garlic surpassed this unprecedented level.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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