Guntur farmers worried over stalled chilli trading

Guntur: The chilli growers are a worried lot with transactions coming to a halt in the Asia's biggest chilli yard in Guntur since September 1.

The Union government introduced eNAM (electronic National Agriculture Market system) under "one country-one market" concept for the sale of agriculture produce online and selected Guntur chilli yard as a model market. However, the traders have been opposing eNAM by continuously boycotting trade for the last one month and demanding that the the new system be scrapped.

The chilli growers kept 50 lakh chilli bags in the cold storages and are worried over the sale of this stock. They have been demanding the government to take steps to resume trading in the chilli market.

Nallamada Rythu Sangham president K. Rajamohan said there is no truth in the government's claim that eNAM would benefit both farmers and traders. He said that eNAM will benefit only the corporate companies. The government should reconsider the implementation of eNAM for chillies, he said. 

Chilli exporters association president M. Dinesh said there are 16 varieties of chillies and that China, Thailand and other foreign countries prefer only the best quality red chillies. Quality testing is not possible through eNAM and this online trading system will ruin exports in the future, he said and suggested that red chilli be exempted from eNAM.

K. Sambi Reddy, president, Chilli Traders and Commission Agents Association, said that usually chilli traders will provide investment to farmers to cultivate chilli and will pay the rest of the amount, deducting the investment, during purchase.  "But under eNAM, traders will not offer investment to chilli farmers." He said that testing all the 16 types of red chilli varieties during chilli auction is not possible and for the same reason, the chilli traders and agents are opposing eNAM,  he said.

Owners of cold storages said that nearly 50 lakh bags of red chillies was stuffed into the rooms without giving space for other agri produce. He said that new chilli trading season would begin in December and that these chilli stocks would lose their colour and quality by that time. He said the chilli stock hoarded in cold storage would become sub-standard as time passes by and sought resuming chilli trading according to the earlier system.

The chilli traders, accompanied by workers and farmers, staged a protest at the marketing office in Guntur on Tuesday demanding scrapping of eNAM and restoring the old trading system.