Quite a few cold storage units in and around the town witnessed long queue of vehicles laden with harvested chillies for the second consecutive day on Sunday as several farmers made a beeline to these units to store their harvested crop in view of the closure of Khammam Agriculture Market due to the nationwide lockdown.
Notwithstanding difficulties faced by some chilli growers in unloading their harvested crop at the cold storage units due to shortage of hamalies on Saturday, several farmers rushed to the units on Sunday to stock their produce in cold storage facilities. The limited staff manning the cold storages struggled to cope with the rush resulting in long delays compelling the farmers to line up their vehicles in front of the units during daytime on Sunday.
The popular Teja variety of red chilli fetched a record price of ₹ 21,000 a quintal in January this year before crashing to a low of ₹ 13,100 a quintal in February at the local market.
The prevailing uncertainty over the reopening of Agriculture Market due to the threat of COVID-19 has reportedly prompted several farmers to opt for cold storages in view of the peak summer ahead and to get a better price for their produce after the crisis is over.
When contacted, the Selection Grade Secretary of Khammam Agriculture Market Praveen Kumar said that notices have been served on all the cold storage units to allow farmers stock their chilli produce in their units up to their maximum storage capacity in strict adherence to norms.
Presently all the cold storage units put together in the division have capacity to accommodate around 4 lakh bags of chillies as per the latest assessment made on the availability of space in these units, he noted.
The Agriculture Market will remain closed till April 14 as part of the nationwide lockdown to check the spread of COVID-19.
