Chilli growers in Prakasam district are at the end as the twin viruses – coronavirus and gemini virus – have dashed hopes for a decent return on their products, the quality of which has also been compromised by excessive rainfall.
Farmers in the drought-stricken area had started growing the commercial crop on over 70,000 acres as they achieved a yield on income when the price of the spice crop went north last year as traders repeated despite the lockdown caused by the coronavirus Visits made their farms and lapped the available produce as global demand increased. Now they don’t know how to break even, let alone get decent returns.
“Now farmers are in a non-jealous position on a number of issues, including unfavorable market conditions, decreased productivity and discolored crops due to a virus attack following unusual rains,” complained farmer Ch. Ranga Rao.
“There are no buyers for our products, even at reduced prices,” said a tenant, Srinivasa Rao from Inkollu village, who had grown the crops on 10 acres of leased land. The harvest initially fetched an attractive price of £ 16,000 per quintal. “Even at £ 10,000 per quintal, there are no buyers right now,” he complains as he oversees the sharp harvest grading by farm workers who fully comply with COVID safety standards.
“I have no choice but to put the produce in a cold store in the hope that market conditions will improve over the next three or four months,” said another farmer, Venkateswara Rao, who is £ 1.50 an acre The raising of crops was spent in 20 hectares in the village of Pamidipadu.
Productivity has dropped from an average of 25 centimeters per acre to an average of 10 quintals because incessant rains are doomed to failure for him, he said.
Those growers who lacked the capacity to store in cold rooms had to sell at whatever price the traders offered to pay the fees to migrant workers who come to harvest all the way from Ballari in Karnataka.
The labor shortage in Asia’s largest Guntur market, where many Hamalis struggled with COVID, added to their suffering, said another farmer, Srinivasa Rao, from Mallavaram village. He feared going to market in the face of the market glut and the raging pandemic, he said.