Hyderabad: Telangana farmers are getting restless due to fall in chilli prices

Hyderabad: On any given day, shopping starts with joy and traders offer expected prices for record highs. But farmers are feeling disappointed with the purchase of the second season. The offered price will be much lower on the pretext that the moisture level in the stock arriving in the markets is high.

There has been an overall decline of 16 to 25 per cent in the prices of premium varieties of chilli in the state during the last two months. According to officials, the price may fall further by two to five percent before it stabilizes.

He said the second harvest of best quality chillies would begin in the end of January or the first week of February. The farmer will benefit from the second harvest.

This year the chilli export market is also not that encouraging. Moreover, the quality was affected due to pest attack on the crop in the state, especially in Warangal and Bhadrachalam regions.

36 percent increase in crop area

Encouraged by the good prices chilli farmers got last year, they opted to cultivate chilli instead of other crops including paddy. An increase of 36 percent has been recorded in the area of chilli crop in the state this year. Marketing department officials said that despite the constraints, prices could remain between Rs 20,000 and Rs 18,000 per quintal.

The government is trying to provide storage facilities to the needy farmers. They can store their produce in cold storage and get assistance from marketing agencies, said a senior official of the marketing department.