Sixty-year-old Srinivasa Rao from Koniki village was among the thousands of farmers who had allowed chilli crop to wither away after a few rounds of plucking in the wake of the market crash three years ago.
Now he is counting his gains as traders from Guntur, which houses the Asia’s largest chilli market, are vying with one another to lift whatever quantity of chilli is still stored in cold storage units in Inkollu mandal, with the price of the high quality Teja variety going up to ₹16,000 per quintal.
“There were no takers for our produce soon after harvest in 2017 when the price of the crop dipped to as low as ₹3,500 to ₹4,000,” recalls the farmer who had a tough time marketing his produce in Guntur in 2017.
“Now traders are coming to us to lift the produce stored in cold storage units,” adds the farmer, who has taken up cultivation of ‘Red gold’ in five acres this season.
Aided by good rains in September, farmers in the district began sowing from the third week.
The current wet spell is highly beneficial to the standing crop, says Prakasam Rythu Sangham general secretary Duggineni Gopinath, after visiting the fields on either side of the Old Madras road from Pernamitta to Parchur in the district.
Cold storage units which used to have stocks of over 30 lakh quintals any time are left with less than 6 lakh quintals now with traders finding it hard to meet the orders placed by importers from abroad.
Preferred crop now
“We hope to make some decent gains this year as the price of one of the main commercial crops in the district has gone northwards,” says a group of farmers in Pamidipadu village, near Korisapadu.
“After burning our fingers by growing Bengal gram last season, we have shifted to chilli this year, says a farmer Ravinuthala Sivaramakrishna, who has taken up cultivation of chilli in 15 acres.
Even those who traditionally cultivated white burley tobacco in and around Parchur have switched over to chilli anticipating a rise in the demand for the crop, explains Prakasam District Rythu Sangham vice-president Chinnam Aiyvarulu.
“Chilli sowings have been completed by the farmers in the district in 25,699 hectares till now as against the normal acreage of 27,462,” said Agriculture Joint Director P.V. Sriramamurthy.
The Agriculture department had fixed the target of 30,000 hectare for chilli.
Going by the present trend, it is sure to surpass the target.
