A sharp decline in the price of ginger rhizomes this harvest season has affected farmers in Kerala and Karnataka.
The spot price of ginger in Wayanad market on Friday was ₹900 to ₹950 a bag (60 kg) as against ₹1,300 a bag (60 kg) during the corresponding period last year, trading sources said.
Usually the ginger harvesting season in Karnataka starts by mid-November. The season lasts till March and farmers harvest and sell the crop any time in between depending on the market price.
This year, the crop had to be harvested in bulk early since fungal infection was spotted in many plants. A glut of produce in major ginger growing areas was the major reason for the current fall in price, sources added.
The arrival of the cheap produce from China via Nepal for evading tax also led to a decline in the price of the produce further, Navrang Mohanan, general secretary, All India Ginger Growers’ Association (KGGA),
12 truckloads
Nearly 10 to 12 truckloads (320 bags) of ginger arrive every day in north Indian markets from Nepal, he added.
Growers in Kerala and Karnataka say around ₹3.5 lakh to ₹4 lakh needs to be invested to cultivate ginger on one acre of land to get a good produce.
An average yield of ginger rhizomes from an acre is 18 to 20 tonnes, but this season it declined to 10 to 12 tonne owing to crop diseases. Hence many farmers would not be able recoup their investment.
Keralite farmers who had cultivated the crop on leased land in Karnataka too were in trouble, Mr. Mohanan said.
Keralites in Karnataka
In Wayanad alone, ginger was cultivated in more than 10,000 acres this season, sources said.
The acreage of ginger had increased nearly threefold this season in the country because of good price the crop fetched in the past two years, Mr. Mohanan said.
On 65,000 hectares
About 20,000 farmers from Kerala had cultivated the crop on nearly 65,000 hectares of leased land in Karnataka this year.
