WARANGAL: A bumper harvest doesn’t always prove beneficial for farmers. The red chilli ryots in the erstwhile Warangal district are realising this bitter truth as they are being exploited by the traders, who are forcing them to sell their produce at low prices.
Farmers from across the erstwhile district have been arriving at the Enumamula Agriculture Market Yard in Warangal with huge loads of red chilli, hoping to return home with enough money to look after their families and to start preparations for their next crop.
But to their disappointment they find themselves at the mercy of traders. All they are being paid for their produce is Rs 21,700 per quintal of red chilli which is far less than Rs 27,500 to Rs 35,000 per quintal displayed on the market yard boards for different varieties.
Till Friday (March 3), 24000 bags of US 341 variety, 150 bags of Deepika variety, 8,200 bags of Teja variety, 600 bags of Wonder Hot (WH), 20 bags of Single Patti variety, 500 bags of 1048 variety and 1,200 bags of Taalu variety have arrived at the market yard.
Among these, Single Patti and Wonder Hot as well as the Tomato variety are in high demand. While Tomato variety is fetching Rs 63,000 per quintal, traders are offering Rs 56,000 per quintal of Single Patti, Rs 27,500 for quintal of Deepika and Rs 36,000 per quintal of Wonder Hot. After buying red chillies at lower prices, the traders are transporting the stocks to others States and sell those at much higher prices.
Officials- traders collusion
While lamenting the fact that they are not even paid the ‘minimum support price’ in the market, M Somi Reddy, a farmer from Mahabubabad, said: “The market yard officials are colluding with the traders and their agents. They are finalising the ‘low’ prices.”
“When we ask the traders why they are offering low prices, they say that moisture content is high in our produce. We don’t have any another option. We have to sell our produce for whatever price the traders are offering us,” he added.
“We are suffering because of the indifferent attitude of authorities. We urge the State government to intervene and resolve this issue. The least the government can do is to offer us the Minimum Support Price,” said another farmer.