GUNTUR: The Guntur Mirchi yard, which has recorded a boom for the past few months, has reduced due to continuous rainfall. With the unseasonal rains, the farmers who bring their produce from Prakasam, Palnadu, Bapatla, and Telangana State are fearing that the Mirchi produce might get wet due to rains. Following this, the total number of arrivals, which was over 1.5 lahks, decreased to 90,000 on Thursday.
According to the local vendors, the situation has been the same since Monday. The stocked bags in the yard decreased to 60,000 bags due to this effect. Usually, the first week of May is the peak of the business, as summer holidays would be announced from mid of the month. But due to these rains, the farmers are not eager to bring their produce from a long distance, as there is no place to properly stock their products, and renting the cold storage would burden the farmers further.
The quality and pungency of the chilli would be affected if it soaks in the water, they added. However, the prices of all varieties are still constant, so the farmers need not worry much about profits, opined, Madhu Babu, a local vendor.
The prices of 334 varieties are between Rs 10,000 to Rs 22,000 per quintal, No. 5 varieties Rs 9,000 to Rs 20,000 per quintal, 273 varieties Rs 11,500 to Rs 18,500 per quintal, 341 varieties Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000, 4884 variety Rs 13,000 to Rs 15,000 per quintal, Super 10 Rs 12,500 to Rs 17,000, Teja Rs 9,000 to Rs 23,500, Badiga Rs 10,000 to Rs 24,200, Devanaru Rs 9,000 to Rs 20,000 per quintal.
The market experts are predicting that the arrivals to the market would sky rocker after the rains. The yard may also close for a fortnight as the farmers would rush to sell their produce without any delay.