Thursday, May 8, 2008

Sharp Fall In The Prices Of Chillies

Tiruchi: A sharp fall in the prices of chillies this season has left growers in Tamil Nadu especially around Manapparai and neighbouring Pudukottai, in the lurch.

The produce has registered an all-time fall this year at the whole-sale markets in Manapparai, a major hub for private procurement of agricultural produce.

The fall, wholesale dealers say, is in the wake of bumper harvest of chillies in Andhra Pradesh.

Chilli growers, consumer activists and wholesale dealers say that this is the first time in the last decade that the per bag price of chilli has registered a dip.

Manapparai is a major market for chillies with scores of villages including Balaviduthi, Poolanpatti, Ponnakoundanur, Thavalai Veeranpatti and T. Reddiyapatti accounting for a vast extent of area under the crop.

A bag of 15 kg of chilli fetched just Rs 600, against Rs 800 last year. A farmer, M. Krishnan of Thavalai Veeranpatti village, says he has been raising the crop for the past four decades. The prices of the crop used to register an upward trend every year in the past.

But, huge arrivals of chillies at Guntur has had an adverse impact on the markets in Tiruchi and Pudukottai districts.

The yield too was far below normal.

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