Delayed flowering and fruit setting owing to scarce rainfall has severely impacted the cardamom sector, affecting the first crop of the season that is due for harvest in July. Farmers say this is the first time in recent history that a drought-like situation is prevailing in the Cardamom Hill Reserve (CHR) area. Rainfall during the southwest monsoon is decisive in deciding the annual production, as fruit-bearing for the first harvest starts with it. There is also a high level of pest attack on crops, which usually tumbles with the setting in of the monsoon.
“There is a drop in flowering and fruit setting too,” said Bhaskaran, a farmer at Rajakkad. The beans are poor-shaped with stunted growth owing to scarce rainfall. He said the first two pickings (harvests) will be affected though the summer rain had saved the plants from withering.
The Cardamom Growers Association estimates that there would be a minimum drop of 30% in annual production. The cardamom sector is the largest provider of employment after tea plantations in the district. It is estimated to provide direct employment to nearly 1 lakh people in the High Ranges.
The unfavourable weather has come at a time when prices too have fallen, said G. Sudarshan, an organic cardamom farmer based at Upputhara. He said the worst affected were small-scale farmers with cultivation below five acres of land. They cannot afford it as the cost of production is high, but prices remain low. The average price fell to ₹1,000 a kg from ₹1,400 recently. Mr. Sudarshan said pest attack was very high as he followed organic cultivation. Had the monsoon intensified, the pest attack would have fallen considerably. However, he said fungus attack was minimum owing to the high atmospheric temperature.
“Of all the cash crops, the worst affected is cardamom as it is highly sensitive to weather conditions and pest attacks. There has been a drop of nearly 50 percentage of rainfall in the CHR areas of Udumbanchola taluk. Many plantations have already imposed curbs on the number of workers. “We are waiting for the monsoon to pick up so that the berries are matured to harvest. There are only a few berries in each bunch (saram). This is a pointer to a poor harvest this season,” said Mathew, a planter.
