Steep price fall forces ryots to burn chilli crop

Warangal/ Khammam: It’s going from bad to worse for farmers in the State with the chilli prices plunging to new low compelling farmers to burn their harvest.

The season that started on a bright note continuing the trend of the last year’s bumper price of around Rs 12,000 per quintal flattered to deceive the chilli farmers this year as the commodity took a nosedive on Thursday with the price plunging to around Rs 6,000 a quintal.

It may be noted here that Warangal and Khammam are the two major chilli markets after Guntur in two Telugu-speaking States – Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. While the normal area under chilli cultivation is 35,000 hectares in Warangal district (undivided), it went up to 45,000 hectares this year. Similarly, area of cultivation also increased in Khammam district (undivided) by 8,000 hectares against the normal area of 24,000 hectares.

This apart, the yield that ranged between 18 quintals and 20 quintals per acre last year has increased to anywhere between 25 quintals and 40 quintals per acre this season.

Warangal Enumamula Market Yard secretary Ajmeera Raju said: The arrival of chilli has increased by 1.50 lakh quintals as on todaycompared to last year.”

As on today, the arrival of commodity to Enumamula market was 5.6 lakh quintals against last year’s 4.1 lakh quintals.

Speaking to The Hans India, the Chamber of Commerce Chilli Section President Rajesh Karani said: “Farmers are not ready to wait till they get a good price and the capacity of the cold storages in the region is also not adequate. Moreover, the sluggish export demand is also has its impact on price. With the season coming to an end, the quality of the commodity is also not on par with the desired level.”

Enumamula Market Committee chairman K Dharmaraju appealed to farmers not to go for distress sale and avail the Rythu Bandhu scheme. Under the scheme, farmers can avail interest-free loans upto Rs 2 lakh for six months who store their produce in cold storages or godowns.

There are 19 cold storage units in Warangal region and they have a capacity of housing at least another 1 lakh bags, he said.

The price of various varieties of chilli at the Enumamula Market on Thursday: Teja (Rs 6,400 – Rs 5,500 per quintal), Wonder Hot (Rs 5,800 – Rs 5,400), US-341 (Rs 6,300 - Rs 5,400), Deepika (Rs 6,700 - Rs 6,000) and Desi (Rs 8,800 – Rs 7,000). (Highest and lowest prices in parenthesis.

In Khammam market, the price of Teja variety was between Rs 7,000 and Rs 6,000 per quintal, according to P Prasada Rao, the market yard secretary.

Warangal district secretary Peddarapu Ramesh said that they have plans to hold a dharna on Friday in protest against the government for its failure to rescue the farmers.

In a relevant development, Karimnagar MP B Vinod Kumar met the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Radha Mohan Singh in Delhi on Thursday and urged him to provide succour to chilli growers by ensuring fair remunerative price to their produce.

He urged him to set up chilli purchasing centres at Warangal, Khammam, Jammikunta, Pargi and Mahabubabad.