Kurnool chilli farmers overjoyed with good prices

KURNOOL: Chilli farmers of Kurnool are on cloud nine as the price for their product has been shooting up. Around Rs 34,000 per quintal on Friday, it shot up to Rs 48,000 on Saturday.

Farmers of Kurnool and adjoining areas of Telangana and Karnataka are making a beeline to the Kurnool market yard, rather than approaching Guntur or other markets. Kurnool yard witnessed sale of 290 quintals on Saturday.

As per data, chilli accounts for 42 percent of total spice exports from India to China, Vietnam, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Indian chilli is world famous for its key commercial qualities of colour and pungency. India is the largest producer of chilli in the world, followed by China, Ethiopia, Thailand, Pakistan and Bangladesh. India’s production of 1.98 million tonnes constitutes 43 percent of the world’s output.

Andhra Pradesh tops the list in producing 7.97 lakh tonnes of dry chilli on 1.77 lakh hectares, with 4,489 kg per hectare productivity. AP is followed by Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, and West Bengal.

Guntur chilli yard is the largest chilli market in Asia. It influences domestic as well as international prices of chilli.

The major chilli growing districts in AP are Guntur, Prakasam, Kurnool and Krishna. Kurnool contributes an annual average production of around 1,50,000 hectares 70,000 MTs followed by Guntur and Prakasam. The commercial crop is grown in all mandals of erstwhile Kurnool district, officials say.

Majority of farmers from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka prefer to approach Guntur chilli yard for sales, as it offers reasonable prices. This time, however, the local market itself has offered a huge price.

Ramakrishna, a farmer from Allur village in Uyyalawada mandal, said they are expecting chilli prices to increase in the coming days. This is a welcome development after they faced severe losses in 2021 due to white spot disease.