The Agro Market Intelligence and Business Promotion Centre (AMI and BPC) of the Department of Agricultural Marketing and Agri Business had advised farmers to sell sorghum upon harvest immediately as there was no chance of increase in its price in December.
In a price advisory, the AMI and BPC had indicated that the price of good quality small sorghum would rule around Rs. 20 to Rs. 21 a kg between October and November.
The price advisory was based on an analysis of the prices that had prevailed in the Tirupur regulated market for 11 years.
The analysis and survey was done by the back office of AMI and BPC in the Centre for Agricultural and Rural Development Studies (CARDS), Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, to provide market intelligence for farmers. Current price of good quality sorghum ( manjal cholam , karicholam , and varieties) is Rs. 22 to Rs. 25 a kg and vellai mottu cholam is Rs. 30 and Rs. 35 a kg in Tirupur market. The poor quality of sorghum ruling around Rs. 19 to Rs. 20 a kg only in Tirupur market.
Sorghum grains with moisture content of less than 9 per cent and free of impurities are considered to be of good quality which fetches better price. The cost of cleaning charges would be Rs. 0.80 a kg. There would be less chance for price increase in December, the price advisory said. In Tamil Nadu, sorghum was cultivated for mainly grain and fodder purposes. The major sorghum growing districts are Dindigul, Coimbatore, Tiruchi, Salem, Karur, and Tirupur contributing 76 per cent of the area under cultivation. The major varieties cultivated in the surroundings of Tirupur and Coimbatore districts are manjal cholam used as seed for good quality of fodder production, vellai cholam , kari cholam, and karareddu cholam are used for feed purposes and mottu vellaicholam are used as foodgrain.
In Tamil Nadu, sorghum is grown in kharif (July-October) and rabi (October-February) as well as in summer seasons. India is the top producer of sorghum. Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu, are the major sorghum-growing States.
