The Guntur Agriculture Market Committee (AMC), which is known internationally as the Guntur chilli market yard, will be shifted from the city to another location, says BJP Rajya Sabha member G.V.L. Narasimha Rao.
Mr. Narasimha Rao, along with AMC chairman Chandragiri Yesuratnam and general secretary of the Chillies Exporters’ Association India Thota Rama Krishna, was addressing the media after inaugurating the association’s office at the AMC here on Saturday.
Mr. Narasimha Rao, who is also Chairman of the Task Force Committee on Chilli, said they had decided to shift the market yard as it was located in the heart of the city, posing problems for the residents and others.
The existing market yard is spread over 56 acres, while the new one will be spread over 200 acres, with all facilities for the stakeholders.
Financial assistance
Mr. Narasimha Rao said the Exporters’ Association and the Commission Agents’ Association agreed to provide a financial assistance of ₹200 crore for relocation of the market yard.
The BJP leader said that he would take up with the Union government the issue of extending financial support in this regard.
He said there was a provision for sanctioning ₹50 crore from the Spices Board if we declare the yard as a spices cluster. He suggested to the AMC to make a proposal for declaring the new chilli market yard as a spices cluster.
He said the AMC had earned more than ₹100 crore by levying a cess of one percent on commodity market. He said that business worth ₹8,500 crore was registered at the AMC in the financial year 2021-22, and hoped that it would do better this year.
“This is the only agriculture market in the world where a single commodity market sees such a volume of business in a single financial year,” Mr. Narasimha Rao said.
Mr. Yesuratnam said exports from Guntur accounted for at least 45% of India’s total chilli exports. “There are 85 cold storages available near the yard,” he added.
