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With the new ‘invasive pest’ damaging the red chilli farms in several parts of Telangana, farmers are demanding a compensation of ₹1 lakh per an acre to partially make up for the losses.
A group of farmers in Khammam met officials of the Agriculture Department and submitted a memorandum, explaining them about the widespread damage being caused to the red chilli crop in the district.
Crop loss
“Of the 1.06 lakh acres where the crop is raised, about 70-80,000 acres of plantation is completely damaged. Besides the new pest, a virus too has caused damage to the crop,” Bontu Rambabu, a senior leader of Telangana Rythu Sangham, told BusinessLine .
The attack by the new pest was first noticed last year, prompting the Prof. Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU) to depute teams to assess the situation.
Unable to control the pest, farmers in several villages are uprooting the plants. Generally, the farmers go for the first ‘picking’ of the fruits in the first week of January, which will be followed by 3-4 ‘pickings’ more.
Cost of cultivation
Reports from Warangal, the other district that grows the commercial crop, and Andhra Pradesh, too, suggest severe damages to the red chilli crop. Farmers spend about ₹1.50 lakh an acre on raising the crop and spend another ₹50,000-60,000 on harvesting and transporting the commodity to the mandis.
“The farmers have already put in about ₹1 lakh so far. Unable to control the pest incidence, they were uprooting the plants,” Rambabu said. The price of red chilli is hovering around ₹12,000-14,000 (a quintal) for Teja variety, and ₹16,000 for Wonderhot variety in Warangal and Khammam market yards.
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