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Coriander crop area shrinks fast in TS, AP
But the crop area is so negligible that it hardly meets city’s demand. Food lovers will not relish dishes, especially chutneys and non-vegetarian curries, although lip-smacking, without the touch of coriander for its unique flavour.
Amaravati: Coriander, a key ingredient without which the Andhra delicacies are not complete, goes scarce in the two Telugu states. The crop area drastically fell as the lands suitable for coriander cultivation made way for capital in Amaravati and infra projects elsewhere, leading to demand-supply mismatch.
The increasing demand has forced the two Telugu states to fetch the leafy vegetable from far-off places such as Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for high prices. A visit to Durga Ghat in the city in early hours helps one witness a fleet of trucks unloading coriander brought in from outside areas.
The crop is in areas like Kunchanapalli, Tadepalli, Penumaka, Venkatapalem and some other villages in and around capital region.
But the crop area is so negligible that it hardly meets city’s demand. Food lovers will not relish dishes, especially chutneys and non-vegetarian curries, although lip-smacking, without the touch of coriander for its unique flavour.
Strands of slender coriander leaves embellishing wayside pushcarts and outlets in vegetable markets are in great demand especially a day before every Sunday, thanks to the non-veggies’ special love for it.
“Earlier it was raised in our neighbourhood heavily and found everywhere. I used to give a few leaves free to my customers as a goodwill gesture. One has to shell out at least Rs 5 for a small strand now”, says Mani, a vendor at Bharatinagar.
V Babu Rao, a retired official from Agriculture department said yield fell to 3 lakh tons in the country as a whole due to adverse weather conditions.
Cool temperatures are conducive for coriander cultivation and rising temperatures in the state made it difficult for survival of the crop, he added.
The demand shoots up during the marriage seasons. Each of major cities such as Vijayawada, Guntur, Vishakapatnam, Rajahmundry, Tirupati, Kurnool, Kakinada require at least five truckloads a day.
But supplies are far behind, says the traders.Srinivasa |Reddy, leader of vegetable growers’ association, emphasized the need for the Horticulture department to promote coriander cultivation in hostile weather conditions by promoting green houses on a large scale so as to meet the demand.
By P Nagasrinivas
