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It is a summer of discontent for chilli farmers in Andhra Pradesh. There has been a drastic fall in the prices of different varieties of red chilli this year at the local agricultural market yard, said to be the largest chilli market in Andhra Pradesh and the country. Consequently farmers, the small ones in particular, are in great distress.
The fall in prices in comparison with last year has been in the range of ₹3,000-5,000 a quintal for different varieties. It is particularly galling for farmers as last year was a good year for chilli cultivation and there has been a 25-30 per cent increase in the cropped area in anticipation of good prices.
Downward spiral Teja, said to be a premium variety, is now fetching ₹7,000-8,000 in comparison with last year's ₹12,000-14,000. The Byadiga and Devam varieties are fetching ₹7,000 against ₹10,000-11,000 last year. The prices of some of the inferior varieties have fallen below ₹5,000, making it difficult for farmers even to recoup their cost. M Lakshminarayana, a farmer who has been cultivating chilli for decades, is of the opinion that the Government should constitute a price stabilisation fund with a corpus of ₹100 crore or so and take up market intervention measures whenever there is a price crash.
“The small farmer needs protection. The big farmer may keep the produce in cold storage and sell it later. A farmer has to spend more than ₹1 lakh, even going up to ₹1.5 lakh per acre, and at present rates many of them may face financial ruin,” he said.
K Rosaiah, the former president of the Chilli Merchants’ Association, said that unfortunately many farmers had taken up cultivation of inferior varieties this year and are in great distress.
“Even in the present market the premium varieties are commanding a reasonable price, though not as high a price as last year,” he said.
The chairman of the agricultural market committee, M Subba Rao said arrivals at the marketyard were good, and the excess production, apart from a good crop in Pakistan, might be contributing to the price slump.
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