Fertiliser scarcity hits cardamom flowering

Manuring of plantations has been slow in the last 3-4 weeks, which is a vital manoeuvre during the cardamom flowering season. Fertailizers and Chemicals Travancore (FACT), the local producer of chemical fertilisers, has stopped production since the last few months due to a sharp increase in the prices of sulphur. This has resulted in a serious shortage of chemical fertilisers in Kerala and other southern states.

The worst affected has been cardamom as plantations are located in remote high range of Idukki district of Kerala. Since transportation to high ranges is expensive, the cardamom growing areas are facing shortages.

Cardamom growers told Business Standard that a major chunk of available fertiliser has gone to other crops, such as pineapple, with growing areas located near Kochi.

A big rise in fertiliser prices is also a serious problem for cardamom and other spices.

Apart from the fertiliser problem, other factors including climatic conditions indicate a rather good crop this season. The harvesting season will pick up by July and auction sales will largely commence from July 1.

The initial crop has already hit the market but with limited arrivals. Its best quality fetches Rs 600 a kg, while the average quality gets Rs 500. According to reports from various producing centres in Idukki, the crop is likely to be better this time though it is too early to guess its final production.

But production is likely to increase by 10-20 per cent due to good summer rains this year. Last year, the crop was badly hit by summer heat as a large portion of the cardamom plantation had dried up. But, timely rains this year have stimulated production and flowering of plantations.

Stock with growers and stockists is running low with almost all the last year's production being sold. Due to the low stock and limited arrivals of early crop, most of the auction centres have been closed for the off season. A few centres have been working with lower quantity to offer.