The sale of turmeric roots produced in the State, especially in the southern parts, has come to a halt for more than a week as growers are not ready to bring down the price fixed by them.
The decision to regulate the price of turmeric was taken at the National Turmeric Growers’ convention at Erode on August 25. Growers from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, who represented the Turmeric Farmers’ Association, fixed the price at Rs. 9,000 a quintal. Following this, the market price of turmeric went up by Rs. 1,000. “The turmeric price was around Rs. 6,200 to Rs. 6,500 a quintal before we decided to fix it. Merchants are now ready to buy the produce at Rs. 7,600 a quintal. However, growers are not ready to bring down the price fixed by them,” Kurubur Shanthkumar, general secretary, Turmeric Farmers’ Association, said.
Mr. Shanthkumar, who participated in the convention with a group of nearly 2,000 turmeric farmers from the State, told The Hindu that growers were firm on their decision.
Growers from Mysore, Hassan, Chamarajanagar and Mandya sell their produce at Erode.
Other major turmeric markets are at Sangli in Maharashtra and Nizamabad in Andhra Pradesh.
“When the crop production cost is around Rs. 8,700 a quintal, how can we sell the produce at a price lower than that?” he asked.
Mr. Shanthkumar said merchants from north India and other parts were now looking to markets in Sangli and Nizamabad as growers here were refusing to sell the produce.
He said that turmeric prices would be reviewed once or twice a week, and the prices would soon be updated on the association’s website.
Mr. Shanthkumar said a 5,000-tonne capacity warehouse had been set up at Erode for storing turmeric produce. The price might go up as the supply was not enough owing to drought, he added.
