GADAG: After making a windfall from growing onions, dry red chilli growers in the district are earning a heavy profit as the price in Gadag APMC reached as high as Rs 27,000 per quintal on Wednesday. The market observers are expecting further surge in the price of dry red chilli in the wake of a slump in its supply.
The e-tendering of red chilli has started at the local APMC yard from January 1, and it is being held on every Wednesday and Saturday. Initially, the farmers were apprehensive over receiving much traction for their produce online, but later they were jubilant due to the prevailing high price.
For this season, chillis are grown over 20,000 hectares of land in the district. In case of failing to get a good price at the Gadag APMC yard, the growers of the district usually take their produce to the international chilli market at Byadagi in the neighbouring Haveri district. Since the e-tendering has begun at the local yard this year, they are selling their produce online. They have also gotten rid of middlemen. So, even farmers of neighbouring taluks of Dharwad district would opt to sell their produce here.
Another reason for the surge in prices is a drop in the yield. Usually, farmers of Naragund and Ron taluk grow chillies over a vast area of land. Due to a series of floods in this region, the produce was comparatively less this time.
A chilli grower from Yavagal village of Ron taluk, Muttanna Kummin, said, “I lost the onion crop this time, but the chilli crop has come as a relief fetching a good price. The chillies from Ron, Naragund, Kundagol and Navalagunda are much in demand due to the natural red colour after they’re powdered. However, chilli growers did not know that they will get this much price. All are happy now.”
An official at the Gadag APMC said, “It was a historic price on Wednesday, as the market never witnessed such a high price for the particular crop. The e-tender made everything transparent. The farmers will be aware of the buyer and the price. Earlier nobody knew about the price and the buyer.”
Deputy Director of Horticulture Shashikant Kotimani said “The yield this time is good as chilli is grown on a total of 20,000 hectares in the district. It is good to know that farmers are getting a good price.”