Telangana chilli farmers refuse to harvest as prices plummet

Chilli farmers in Telangana have abandoned harvesting of chillies because the cost of picking the chillies is more than the price they are being offered.

While farmers elsewhere are committing suicide because of poor crop, drought, flood and indebtedness, in Telangana the chilli farmers are being driven to take the extreme step because of the bumper crop, alleged Rajya Sabha Member Renuka Chouwdhury.

Blaming the state government squarely for this, Chowdhury claimed that this bizarre situation had been created because the government chose to advise farmers this year on which crops they should plant. The farmers were asked to avoid growing cotton because of poor rates prevailing in the international market and instead grow soya, chilli etc.

In the absence of cold storages, the farmers are unable to store the crop either, she informed the House and claimed that a quintal of chilli was fetching just ₹6,000. Last year, however, the prices fetched by a quintal of chilli ranged between ₹12,000 and ₹13,000.

“Our Khammam and Warangal chilli is very famous. But today, the price of one quintal of chilli has come to a princely sum of ₹6,000. Yesterday, it was ₹5,000. It is hopelessly inadequate for our farmers to recover their cost,” Chowdhury added.

Chowdhury later criticised the Telangana chief minister for drawing ₹5.5 crore from the ‘Common Good Fund’ and donating the money to the Balaji temple at Tirupati as if that would solve the problem of farmers’ suicide.

“He also got a golden moustache made for one of the deities, which he has donated to the temple, but he does not have the time to address the issue of chilli farmers in Telangana,” she exclaimed.

India produces 38% of the global chilli crop and Telangana and Andhra Pradesh together grow 50% of the chilli produced in the country.

The high rates at cold storages have also added to the woes of chilli farmers. With farmers being charged ₹200 a bag for six months, it would cost ₹10,000 to store 50 bags of chilli, farmers complain. The cost of producing chilli is also said to be high at ₹1.5 lakh an acre, with harvesting or picking charges alone amounting to ₹50,000.