Turmeric no longer lucrative crop for farmers in Nizamabad

Nizamabad: Turmeric cultivation has a sentimental relationship with farmers due to its colour, medicinal and culinary values and its usage in religious rituals.

Once upon time in Nizamabad, Jagital and Nirmal districts, for farmers turmeric was considered gold due to its beneficial values and also good returns on investments.

However, due to falling prices in the market, the crop which keeps farmers engaged for 10 months of the year, no longer attractive to the cultivators these days.

Of late, there has been a perception among farmers that the cost of cultivation is on the rise and it is not going to give them good returns.

Despite their ability to sell turmeric at a rate of Rs 6,000 to Rs 7,500 per quintal, the farmers are facing huge losses. An acre of turmeric cultivation costs about Rs 85,000 to a farmer. Even if the price rises to Rs 8,000 to Rs 9,000 per quintal, it will not cover the minimum cost of cultivation.

According to them, it was 13 years ago one quintal of turmeric had fetched Rs 15,000 in the agricultural markets of Nizamabad district. Now the cost of turmeric cultivation has increased and they are not getting good profits. Exports to Gulf countries have also been dried up due to international and domestic political issues.

Therefore, farmers are not keen on turmeric cultivation. Paddy cultivation, on the other hand, has increased as groundwater level has gone up. To make matters worse, soil-borne diseases and rhizomes, leaf spot, leaf blotch and bacterial diseases infect the turmeric crop near paddy fields.

During the ten months of crop season, pest keep attacking the turmeric crop one after the other. This increases the cost of cultivation for the farmer as they have to use pesticides. Due to excessive use of pesticides, the quality of turmeric crop also goes down due to their residues in the yield. This is affecting the exports.

In Nizamabad, Jagityala and Nirmal districts, turmeric cultivation is in danger of gradual extinction. The same has been presented in the section dealing with cost of production of wet and dry turmeric.

The reorganised Nizamabad district had turmeric acreage of 15,754 Ha with a production of 74,349 MT which contributes 25% of the total turmeric production ten years ago. At present, the area under normal turmeric cultivation in Nizamabad district has fallen to 12,565 hectares. Turmeric was cultivated in 8,765 hectares during the 2022 Vanakalam season. It is expected that 65,302 metric tons of turmeric will be produced in Nizamabad district.

Jagtial belt which had turmeric acreage of 16,378 Ha with a production of 81,890 MT of production volume which contributes 27% of the total turmeric production, at present, normal cultivation of turmeric has been reduced to 8,567 hectares in Jagtial. At present, 5876 hectares of turmeric has been cultivated in Jagtial district during the 2022 Vanakalam season.

Nirmal belt had the turmeric acreage of 8,822 Ha with a production of 44,113 MT of production volume which contributed 15% of the total turmeric production.

The cultivation area is gradually decreasing in Nirmal. Turmeric was cultivated in 5,476 hectares in 2021 Vanakalam season. In the 2022 Vanakalam season, the area under turmeric cultivation contracted to 4,385 hectares.

Turmeric cultivation area has decreased by 63 percent in Warangal district. Turmeric crop has been cultivated in 1,061 hectares this year. Turmeric cultivation has declined most dangerously in Vikarabad, Mahabubabad, Hanumakonda, Jayashankar, and Peddapelli districts.

There is a need to provide seed material facilities, farm machinery services, primary processing facilities in this cluster since a major share of turmeric cultivated in the state is traded in this cluster.

So far, 20 cold storage units are available in this cluster, which are in and around Nizamabad AMC market. Since these units are situated near the market, the occupancy is almost 100% through out the year.