Some help is in the offing for the red chilli farmers in Andhra Pradesh who are in great distress this year due to a price crash from a level of Rs 12000-14000 per quintal last year to below Rs 5,000 per quintal this year for most varieties at the Guntur chilli market yard.

Farmers' organisations and different political parties have been demanding that the State Government take up market intervention exercise and go to the rescue of the farmers. However, till now there is no response, but it is learnt that the State Government sent a team of officials to New Delhi earlier this week to apprise the Centre of the position and seek some help from the Union Agriculture ministry.

According to sources, there has been a positive response from the Union Agriculture Ministry and the State Government has decided in principle to offer Rs 1,500 more per quintal to the farmers above the market price. However, a ceiling of 20 quintals for each farmer is likely to be set for the additional benefit.

The State officials are formulating the guidelines for implementing the relief scheme and they may be announced soon.

It is estimated that there may be around 12 lakh quintals of chilli lying with the farmers in the State. At the present rates, they say, they do not even get back the cost of cultivation. There is also no room in the cold storage units here for storing the chillies.

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