Poor arrival of groundnut at the wholesale market at Manapparai has shocked the dealers who have been finding it difficult to cater to the needs of merchants from other districts, confine themselves to the local sale within Tiruchi district.
There are about 15 wholesale dealers in the Navadhanya mandi in Manapparai who purchase the groundnut from neighbouring 25 villages including Kuppandiyur, Kavalkaranpatti, Adipatti, Vaiyampatti. The procurement is made twice a calendar year and the average purchase per dealer per season is 5,000 bags, each of 37 kg. But, this season, due to failure of monsoon during the planting season, the yield from the crop has dwindled seriously, say the groundnut cultivators in and around Manapparai.
Obviously, the arrival at the wholesale market had come down from the usual 5,000 bags to just 1,000 bags. Even here, the quality of the groundnut is quite inferior as compared to the previous year. A leading wholesale dealer in groundnut, V. Karuppiah, said that he used to market the produce to various centres including Karur, Dindigul and Singamunari -- all outside Tiruchi district. “We sell the produce through a weekly auction,” he said. Apart from fall in yield, the size of the nut was also small, due to poor rainfall, he added. The arrival was adequate only to meet the demand of needs of retail dealers in Tiruchi district, he said.
