AP farmers hold back crop as prices decline

AP farmers have disposed of only half of the turmeric crop they reaped in 2006-07 as market prices further came down to Rs 1,750-1900 a quintal from Rs 1,950-2,050. Godowns and cold storages in Guntur, Nizamabad, Warangal and Kadapa have put up `no space¿ boards even as farmers and traders jostle to pile up their crop there, hoping the June delivery of the commodity, quoting at Rs 2,200 a quintal, would bring them some luck.

Farmers appear to be in panic. Half of the crop is still lying with them. They do not know whether they should begin turmeric sowing operations for 2007-08 season in June. Of the estimated 25 lakh bags (of 70 kg) in AP, only 12 lakh bags have so far been sold out. At Duggirala, traders lifted only 70,000 bags out of 3.5 lakh bags of harvest.

Even traditional buyers from other states such as UP, MP, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Assam are conspicuous by their absence at AP market yards, as their states have witnessed bumper turmeric crop.

When government in March announced market intervention through its agency Markfed, most of the farmers stopped bringing turmeric to market yards. But the Markfed was not to be seen.

Then farmers resorted to panic selling, which pushed down prices. Farmers¿ plea to give `Ryothu Bandhu¿ loans against crop stored in godown and cold storages was heard. It is to be seen for how many more days farmers would keep their crop at homes or cold storages. They need liquid cash for carrying out household exigencies and turmeric sowing.

Turmeric exports have not yet picked momentum, another reason why AP markets remain dormant.

So experts suggest that if sowing is discouraging in June and July, prices will go up in August and September. This is likely as at least 30 per cent reduction in turmeric hectarage in 2007-08 is expected. This situation would be conducive to push up prices by Rs 400-500 a quintal in August-September.

However, reports that sowing would be better in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu for 2007-08 in view of bleak forecast on sugarcane hectarage might hit market prospects of AP turmeric.

Compared with AP farmers, who lost heavily up to Rs 20,000 a hectare, farmers of Erode (Tamil Nadu) have made Rs 2,000-2,200 per quintal, farmers of Salem Rs. 2,500-2,600, and farmers of Maharashtra Rs. 2,000-2,300.

Rajapuri turmeric has been paid Rs. 2,700 per quintal at Sangli. At Nizamabad, farmers earned Rs. 1,700-2,000 per quintal, at Kadapa Rs. 1,800-2,000 and in Orissa Rs. 1,800-1,900.

It is learnt that farmers in Tamil Nadu, with the help of better technologies, reaped 20-25 quintals of quality turmeric an acre. Their AP counterparts, however, harvested only 10-15 quintals.